Hard To Forget
by yanny88
Summary: It has been a month since Naruto died in an accident. Tsunade assigns Kakashi and Sakura on a mission to enjoy themselves for as much as possible and take their mind off Naruto, but what happens on the mission? Read and find out. KakaSaku
1. Chapter 1: Hard To Forget

hey, it's me again, the Narutard is back!!! this is probably going to be my longest fanfic ever so please read this, and if you do, gimme some good advice if i need it, something worth telling from other fanfic writers out there who are most likely better than i am, but i try. so please read and enjoy :D

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HARD TO FORGET  
CHAPTER ONE

"It's been a month since it happened," said the pink haired medic as she stared at the large and thick gravestone that stood before her.

Haruno Sakura, a well-known medic of the Leaf, stood before the gravestone of what was imagined to be unbelievable, "I'm sorry," murmured Sakura, her tears ready to stream down her saddened face.

The nineteen-year-old gazes down at her hand that contained a small white flower. Sakura knelt down in front of the gravestone and placed the flower on top of it, sighing deeply with her emotions ready to explode with despair. It seemed so surreal that _he _was now dead after that accident.

"I'm sorry Naruto," it could not be helped, such a person who was so close to that blonde-haired boy, who had perished. She could still remember his last words and the state he was in at the time:

"_Sakura-chan," Naruto's blooded hand reached out for the medic but alas, his strength had failed him…_

How cold it felt to remember such agony. Sakura places her hand on the memorial stone and lets her tears roll down her cheeks, dropping on the dusty ground by her knees. With all her worries and the rest of her life going down the tube after that scene she was in, she could no longer handle life as it was already.

She gets up with her stuttering sigh from the sadness that held her down and stares aimlessly at the stone. She clenches her fists, nearly imbedding her fingernails into her own hand from frustration. She tucks her pink hair behind her ear and wipes the tears from her eyes. The deep frown on Sakura's face was bad enough to be contagious to who so ever dared to stare her right in the face.

As Sakura leaves the memorial place from where she was, she notices a certain Kunoichi; timid as she was, Hinata of the Hyuuga clan too had her share of pain to send off to the one she loved most in her life, "hi Sakura-san," said the shy Hinata, holding the same flower Sakura had before. Sakura says nothing, knowing that their conversation would be short; she returns a small smile, twitching upward to show her respect towards Hinata.

Their presence was soon short lived when Hinata was already at Naruto's memorial stone. Sakura could not help but hear the soft cry of the now lonely Kunoichi and at that, Sakura couldn't help but cry too. She drops her head, now staring at her feet, knees trembling and ready to let Sakura fall to the ground.

Of course, Sakura had to move on in her life, she had a hospital to maintain and a report to deliver. With the scroll in her hand, Sakura glances up at the clear blue sky; it hadn't rained in days, which was a good thing.

Another flash back of his death, Sakura wanted to cry again, she wanted it all to end. She could still remember how silent the funeral was that time; the sound of the wind was the only thing that kept the village alive. The sound of the people sobbing and crying, the speeches that the Hokage gave and that moment where everyone was wearing black and standing perfectly still in a crowd and stared at Naruto's gravestone, all sad, all wanting to wish the same thing.

"Sakura-chan?" a low voice asked.

Sakura definitely recognised that voice, lazy and always calm. Sakura looks up to find her former teacher, Hatake Kakashi, standing before her. It had been a long time since Sakura talked to Kakashi, especially when she and Naruto became Jounin after so long.

Sakura had blacked out for a moment as she recapped the funeral over and over, wishing that she didn't, "Kakashi-sensei," she greeted blandly, her cold glare just couldn't be helped after what she had been through in the past month. Kakashi tilts his head sideways with a raised eyebrow and asks, "Are you okay?" Sakura looks away from the taller man before trying her best to smile, "I'm fine, just a bit stressed out is all," she proved her point, Kakashi wasn't at all convinced but could tell that asking further questions would really send Sakura mad.

Sakura walks silently past Kakashi, knowing that she still had a few chores to do. Before Sakura was out of sight, she hears one question, "it's been a month hasn't it?" Sakura stops, not looking over her shoulder to reply but knew what Kakashi meant, "yeah," Sakura sighs before walking on and out of earshot.

Upon reaching the Hokage's tower, Sakura passes the Ichiraku Ramen Bar where Naruto was always having lunch. She sees a certain Chuunin sitting at the bar all alone. Sakura enters the small building, "Iruka-sensei?" Sakura wondered.

The brown haired Chuunin faces the medic with surprise, "ah, Sakura-san," he greeted lamely, waving a little. Once seen Sakura's depressing face, Iruka too felt what she had on her mind. He sighs as he returns his attention to his ramen bowl, stirring it with his chopsticks.

Sakura takes a seat next to the Chuunin, looking to her right where the empty seat was, it was where Naruto always sat when he had ramen there. Sakura shook her head to rid herself from those painful memories and decided to cheer up Iruka, "so how has it been at the academy?" she asks.

"It's been busy as always," Iruka replied, feeling bored as ever now that it was nearing the end of the day already.

Sakura nodded her head lightly, knowing that Iruka too was still hit hard by the news he received about Naruto's death.

A sigh escapes Sakura's lips before remembering her small chore she had to achieve before doing anything else, "well sorry I can't stay long, Tsunade-sama wanted me to deliver the report and she wanted to speak with me about something, so I'll see you around," Sakura waved lightly and began to exit the shop. Iruka waves back with a soft grin on his tanned face before mentioning, "definitely," with that said, Sakura gladly leaves Ichiraku with nothing more to say but to focus on her real goal in life: being Tsunade's apprentice and try and survive the rest of her young life.

Sakura finally reached the Hokage tower and usually expected that certain blonde to show up right about now and ask her out for ramen, which of course Sakura would gladly accept but with the jobs she had to do, Sakura was constantly busy working at either the hospital or with Tsunade.

"Here we are," muttered the medic, opening the front door to enter the quiet and dark hallways to the office rooms, leading to the stairways to the next floors.

Sakura makes her way up the stairs and heard her breath and footsteps echo in the emptiness of the hallways. She finally reaches Tsunade's office and knocks briefly before hearing a mumbled, "come in," from inside the room.

Sakura opens the door to Tsunade's office, where Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, sat in her big boss chair, waiting for her stooge to hand in the week's report, "so Sakura-san, you have the report?" she asks firmly, leaning on the desk in front of her. Sakura nods quickly and hands the scroll to the blonde Hokage, allowing her to read it. Tsunade reads the text quickly and nods with an agreeable humming sound, "good," she places the scroll elsewhere on the desk and focuses on Sakura, "Sakura-san, I am assigning you to a mission," she gestures, keeping her glare fixed upon her pink haired student.

"A mission?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, this should be an easy mission for you," replied the blonde, resting her head on her hand.

Sakura felt unsure of the idea of a mission but she had no choice but to listen, "what is the mission Tsunade-sama," she asks, trying to stay calm, and of course, she does, right after thinking back to Naruto's death for the nth time.

Tsunade clears her throat and sits up on her seat before saying, "you have been very unstable and unfocused since Naruto-kun died so I am ordering you to go on a vacation with Kakashi for two weeks, so you can get over this loss,"

Sakura was surprised after hearing the part with the vacation with Kakashi and that it was for two weeks, "a two week vacation with Kakashi-sensei?" she wondered.

Tsunade nodded her head slowly, keeping her glare on the medic standing before her, "yes, you are to have fun on this mission and you must take your mind off Naruto, otherwise you will stay depressed for the rest of your life," she said, sighing under her breath and leaning back.

"Does Kakashi-sensei know about this?" Sakura asked curiously, feeling bad about her self.

Tsunade looks out the window, trying to figure out a good way to put things through in an easy manner, "I spoke to him about it this morning, and you will have to put up with him for the next fourteen days," she exclaimed firmly, narrowing her eyes at the pink haired medic.

Sakura nods hesitantly, '_don__'__t worry Sakura, you always did want to spend time with your former sensei ever since Naruto died, just accept it and move on,_' said Inner Sakura lamely. Although Sakura found that her inner self was being annoying in moments like these, she had a point. Sakura really did want to spent time with Kakashi and just take her mind of the stress that was slowly piling up on her, besides, it was only Kakashi she was having a vacation with, what could possibly go wrong between the two.

"You will leave in two days, don't pack too much, but take some food, plenty of money and plan something, just keep your mind away from _his_ death," Tsunade mentioned, making Sakura sigh in frustration.

"Any questions? Good, you are dismissed," Tsunade waved her hand to let Sakura know she was allowed to leave the office after her briefing.

With that said and done, Sakura bows her respect to the Hokage and leaves the office with nothing more on her mind other than Naruto's fate. She retraces her steps through the empty hallways, staring blankly at the ground as she walked. The thought of going on a holiday for a fought night with Kakashi made Sakura shudder inside, but Tsunade had a point, Sakura was falling apart more everyday at the hospital, working in the ER and handling the blooded patients day after day. All those memories of Naruto's last moment alive kept hitting her in the head whenever she was in an operation.

Sakura shakes her head, ridding herself from those haunting reminiscences, "it's just for two weeks, it's no big deal," she shrugs before realising that she had already reached the exit. Right before Sakura could open the door, she felt a familiar presence lingering just outside the tower door. Sakura grabs the doorhandle and pushes it slowly to show more light, streaming through the opening of the glass-pained door.

Out on the steps of the Hokage tower sat a rather lonely Kakashi, hunched over and staring aimlessly at the pavement in front of him, "Kakashi-…sensei?" wondered Sakura, letting the door close behind her and slowly making her way to Kakashi's line of sight.

"Hmm," mumbled the silver haired Jounin in response.

Sakura sits down next to her former sensei and felt the awkward silence sink in, "I suppose Tsunade-sama told you about the mission," she asked, knowing Kakashi already knew but asked anyway.

Kakashi leans back slightly and stares at the pink haired medic with the deep frowning expression in his only visible eye, "yep, we leave in two days for our two week rehab trip," he said, not making any eye contact with the medic.

Sakura smirked, though trying not to but she couldn't help it, "rehab?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the other Jounin. Kakashi nods repeatedly before saying, "yeah, this practically is a sort of rehab trip so might as well call it that," Sakura giggled under her breath before holding it in her lungs. She sighed softly before coming to her senses.

"This is weird, I haven't laughed or smiled ever since Naruto died and it feels painful to undergo the joy again," stated the Jounin medic blankly.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, rather confused, "why would it be weird?" Sakura glances at Kakashi before trying to find the right words to reply but sighs instead.

"I always use to smile and laugh and just muck around, but now it's like I don't know the meaning of ecstasy anymore and turned boring and mostly focused on my life ahead, it seems so wrong for me," she explained, wanting to crawl in a hole and die.

"Maybe it's just adulthood kicking in," Kakashi suggested, but it didn't help. Sakura glares at Kakashi, starting to get frustrated with the man.

"I'm being serious here Kakashi-sensei," she snapped angrily.

Kakashi gulped but stood his ground steadily, feeling confident that he wouldn't get a beating from his own former student, "so am I," he stated firmly, staring at Sakura with a serious glare.

"You never know Sakura, people can change quickly over a short time," Kakashi was driving Sakura back to those horrible memories and he wanted Sakura to open up about that last moment with Naruto.

Sakura finally figured out what Kakashi meant about his last words and sighs, ready to cry. She rubs her temples frustratingly and wished that her life ended right now but she knew she would have to confront her memories eventually.

"I guess you're right Kakashi-sensei, though I am trying to be myself, it's just that it's so painful and hard to become what I once was after something like this happened," she explained, staring at Kakashi with her now tired eyes.

Kakashi nods, letting her know that Sakura's mean words weren't a threat to him, nor was it offensive, "don't worry, these next two weeks should fix that and like I said before, people can change over a short time, you'll be back to your normal and keen self again in no time," he enthused, grinning under his mask.

Sakura gladly took the advice and sighs in relief, "well, thanks for the encouragement, sensei, I really appreciate it," she said, a small smile twitching a bit and stares at her feet again.

Kakashi gets up, gazing at the colour of the sky as the sun set into the background, "well, I'm going to head on home," he mentioned, stretching out his arms as if he had been sitting there for a long time. He holds out his hand to help Sakura to her feet and the medic gladly takes it. Sakura looks up at Kakashi's hidden but lazy expression and grinned again.

"Thanks," she muttered, letting go of the other Jounin's hand and smirked lightly.

Kakashi just rubs the back of his head and turns around to head home, "see you tomorrow or another time," he woops, waving a hand back to Sakura, who just waves back before returning her attention to her life problems.

Sakura walks the opposite way from Kakashi down the lonely but not completely empty streets until she reached her apartment. She climbs the five-storey building until she reached her apartment door. Sakura unlocks the door and enters the room.

"What a day," she sighs heavily before ploughing onto her bed and kicking off her shoes. Sakura stares at her bedroom ceiling before changing into her pyjamas and sliding under the covers, having nothing but Naruto's death on her mind.

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Me: Whew, so, how was that?

Kakashi: wow, a long story that has me in it? im flattered

Me: well, i guess a story about you wouldnt hurt, so why not

Sakura: wow i'm in it!!! awesome

Me: Sakura???O.o

Sakura: What, never seen a pink haired kunoichi before?

Me: no its not that, i just didnt expect you to be here...

Kakashi: anyways, hope you enjoyed chapter one XD

Sakura: please review so we can get the next chapter in ;P


	2. Chapter 2: The First Encounter

Me: whew, finally, the next chapter is in :D

Kakashi: Horray!!

Me: i luv you fanfic writers out there, thanks 4 the reviews

Sakura: i still can't believe that Naruto dies TT

Me: don't worry Sakura-chan, it all gets better in the end

Kakashi: well thats good

Me: o yea another thing, i do NOT own Naruto (though i wish i did :P)

Sakura: well, read and enjoy

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CHAPTER TWO: THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

"_Sakura-chan…" the blooded Naruto spat in pain as he reached out for the pink haired medic._

_Sakura was frightened and shocked tremendously. She stared wide-eyed at the kunai knife that stuck out from Naruto's chest and fell to the ground, still staring at the boy._

_Naruto too lands on his knees and falls forward, saying his last words, "Sakura-…cha…n…" that was it, Naruto gazed motionless at Sakura as his last breath tore his life apart…_

Sakura sits up immediately, panting and sweating from the nightmare. She sighs dreadfully, rubbing her forehead, "another nightmare about him," she sighed, feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

Worried, Sakura searches the room from where she was on her bed for anything that might be stalking her; she was paranoid. No signs of anything in her room other than her closet, desk and chair. Sakura rests her head on her pillow, in hopes of a better sleep, but before she could do so, she hears imperceptible purring coming from somewhere close by.

"Huh?" she stated, sitting up and looking around again to find where the noise was coming from.

Sakura looks at the window next to her bed to find a young fox sitting on the windowsill and meows in response of its discovery. Sakura was curious to know how it got there in the first place, "a fox?" she wondered, staring at the brown colours and examining the details of the cute faced fox.

"Reowr," it said happily.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, wondering if all this was just a silly dream until she noticed a few familiar features on the fox: it had three whiskers on either side of its face and it had big squinted eyes, which reminded Sakura of Naruto with all its characteristics packed into one, how ironic.

Sakura slowly reached out her hand but stayed cautious in case the fox would attack her and bite her hand senseless. Her hand was near the fox's head before it jumped down the windowsill and purred loudly again, swishing its big and fluffy tail from side to side and rolling over onto its back. Sakura sat curiously as the fox rolled around on her leg and the rest of the bed sheets. She pats the fox gently, hearing its soft purr. The fox opens its eyes to reveal that they are blue with a shimmer of green, very much like Naruto's eyes, only without the green.

Before Sakura could cuddle with the fox more, it jumps up on the windowsill with a loud meow, "what's up little fox?" asked Sakura curiously, watching the fox before it leapt out of the window and landing unscathed on the ground below.

Sakura heaves over the sill, worried that the fox would've hurt itself but strangely enough, it wasn't hurt at all. It meows loudly, staring right at Sakura with its pretty eyes shimmering in under the moonlit sky.

The pink haired medic takes the risk, puts on her ninja shoes, and puts on her kunai pouch in case the fox could lead her in a trap. Sakura looks down to where the fox was sitting and waiting patiently for her to jump down and join the fox but it was four storeys down and there was no way Sakura could jump down and not have a scratch on her, but like she really cared.

Sakura takes a calming breath before leaping from her bed and through the window passage and down she went. Sakura used her Chakra to lift some weight off her body before landing on the hard ground below and it actually worked. Sakura did feel some ground shock but other than that, she was okay.

The fox purrs happily with a meow and starts to scurry off into the emptiness of the village. Sakura follows the brown fox through the village until she was lead to the village gate where the darkness really sank in. she stops, staring at the forest ahead with the scary vibe sinking in Sakura's mind.

The fox however turns around to face Sakura and meows to get her attention and make Sakura follow it. Sakura shakes the scary images from her head and hurries after the fox.

Now into the dark forest, Sakura found it hard to keep up with the fox; squeezing through the trees until she was released into an open area with the dark trees surrounding her. Sakura searches to find the brown fox but it ran off somewhere. She was all alone now. Sakura felt a slight chill, standing in the middle of a dark and creepy forest with nothing but a pair of thin cotton pants and a singlet on. Sakura felt her heart thump faster as she felt the loneliness sinking in.

There was a sudden movement in the bushes behind Sakura, startling her. The rustling got louder and closer. Sakura looks all around her, the movements were now all over the place, and Sakura couldn't find what it was. At last, the rustling ceased and the silence felt too scary for Sakura to handle.

Suddenly, Sakura felt a very familiar presence behind her, though it felt surreal that it would be what she thought it was. Sakura pulled out a kunai and slowly turned her body to the presence to feel her eyes in terror when she found Naruto standing on a limp and glaring at her with blood streaming from his forehead.

Sakura's breathing stopped and she dropped her kunai from the scene. Naruto reaches out for Sakura but she backs away with one-step, tears welling up in her eyes and her memories bouncing back harder every time Sakura glimpsed at the blonde.

Naruto's hand that reached out for the medic was bleeding as well, dripping onto the wet grass, staining it with the crimson colours. The kunai that Sakura dreamed about was sticking out from Naruto's chest. Everything Sakura saw on Naruto right at this point was as accurate when she first saw him like that.

Naruto steps closer to Sakura, swaying a bit as the blood seeped from his mouth with eyes frightening with the blue glow of his natural eye colour. Sakura's jaw trembled in its position as the blonde sauntered unsteadily to her.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto slurred painfully, making Sakura back up even more before she slides down, her mind screaming out until she snapped and lost her self control to keep her words to herself, "NARUTOOOO!" she screamed aloud and let her tears cascade down her reddened face. Her scream echoed throughout the forest, causing crows and other birds to fly off into the night sky.

Naruto kept creeping closer the crying medic, but Sakura refused to look at the blonde. She closes her eyes tight and clenches at her hair, wishing everything would go away, especially the-suppose-to-be-dead Naruto.

Sakura cried out loud, uncontrollable tears rolling down her face before she nearly felt Naruto touch her but a voice caused everything to end at last, "Sakura-chan?" called the worried voice. Sakura was still crying, not caring who it was that was there, just as long as Naruto was now gone.

Of all people who found her, it was Kakashi who found Sakura crying against a tree as if she had seen a ghost, which of course she had, "Sakura-chan," he said again, rushing over to Sakura's side.

Sakura held her knees in total fear, no one was as terrified as Sakura was now, and no one would ever be able to experience worse than what Sakura had witnessed. Kakashi looks around to see if anyone was here to have scared Sakura like this and places his hand on the medic's shoulder before Sakura dives into his arms, crying still.

Kakashi flinched for a moment before letting his arms hold onto the crying girl. He strokes Sakura's arms gently to reassure her safety, "shhh, it's okay Sakura, you're safe now," he said softly. Sakura's breathing was fast, "I saw him, I saw Naruto and he was there in front of me, calling my name," she muttered huskily, clutching tightly on Kakashi's navy blue shirt and had her face buried in the man's chest, hiding from her fear.

Kakashi looks down in worry, '_Sakura__…_' he thought distractedly as he rubbed Sakura's arms for security.

Sakura's crying soon calmed down to sobs as she held her constant grip on the other Jounin's shirt while rested against him. Kakashi sits down properly, leaning against the tree where Sakura was before.

The silence was long and gentle; Sakura was still in Kakashi's arms, taking deep breaths and staring aimlessly at the dark trees that followed with more trees. Sakura didn't care whose arms she was in, as long as she had someone to cry on and to scream as long as she wanted, but of course, she had her self-control that time and didn't scream her lungs out.

Finally, Sakura had recovered from her jolt of fear and sits up, staring tiredly at Kakashi, who gazed back with concern, "you alright?" he asked. Sakura nods while sobbing a bit and wipes the remaining tears from her face.

It took only a few minutes for Sakura to finally realise that she was crying in Kakashi's arms, but it was already too late anyway, "I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei, I don't know what came over me," she said, feeling slightly embarrassed. Kakashi shrugged with a small grin on his concealed face and says, "It's no big, I guess you just needed a shoulder to cry on," he pats Sakura on the shoulder before getting up with his hand held out for Sakura to grab.

"But still, it seemed a bit awkward," she replied, taking Kakashi's hand and standing up on her feet.

Kakashi rolled his eyes with a sigh and places his hand on Sakura's head, messing up her pink hair, "but what were you doing out here in the middle of the night anyway?" he asked. Sakura totally forgot about that and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "I followed a little fox until it ran off in the thick bush and left me here," she clarified, looking past Kakashi and into the bushes where she witnessed a blast from the past come back to haunt her.

"And what about you? You so happened to end up where I was right after Naruto disappeared," Sakura wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"I followed a small black fox and it ran up into the trees and after that I heard your loud scream, so I had to find out what it was," Kakashi replied honestly, hoping Sakura would believe him.

Sakura raised an eyebrow again, "you're not lying?" she asked curiously, still trying to wear off from the scare she got from Naruto, who was supposed to be dead. Kakashi shakes his head, "nope, not this time and this is the truth," he replied, keeping a straight face and his lazy expression still constant.

Kakashi gazes up at the dark sky where the moon was the only light source, "you'd better get some rest," he mentions. Sakura nods tiredly and turns around to find her way out of the forest. Kakashi stood there, watching and making sure Sakura was going the right way out.

Before Sakura was out of sight from the other Jounin, she stops, turning her head to the side where she could only just see Kakashi in the corner of her eye, "I miss him terribly," she murmurs, waiting for Kakashi's response.

"So do I," he said, hands rested at his sides, sighing heavily and looking up again.

Sakura stares at something in the bushes next to her before walking back home, "goodnight," she said before she was out of sight within the trees. Kakashi hums lazily, rather than say something else and jumps up in the trees to find that blasted fox.

Sakura walks through the unfilled streets of Konoha and eventually makes it to her apartment, climbing up the trees next to the building than taking the stairs and into the window, she went. Kakashi stood from a rooftop unseen, keeping an eye on the pink haired medic before heading home.

After a few sleepless nights, Sakura finally had the chance to dream properly after a month of sadness. It was full of her childhood and her friends until Kakashi randomly came up in her mind, but who really cared that she was having nice dreams about her and her life and besides, it was just Kakashi she was having a dream of, as if it made a difference.

Sakura sat in bed, wondering if Naruto would show up again and panic her, but before her worries overtook her, she hears a familiar meow, "huh?" she faces the purring noises and finds that same brown fox from before, sitting on the windowsill again, "you again?" Sakura snapped abruptly.

The fox purrs plainly and hops down from the sill and swishes her fluffy tail around and cuddles against Sakura's stomach. Sakura raised an eyebrow, not convinced that the fox was a trusting one.

The fox purrs madly and leans against Sakura's thigh for a cuddle. Sakura pats the brown fox and began to see the cute side of it, "okay then," she said tiredly and leans back, resting her head on the pillow and allowing the fox to sleep next to her for the night.

"Goodnight, my little Kitsune," mumbled Sakura before letting sleep take over her.

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NOTE: Kitsune means 'Female fox,' and Kuro means 'Black'

Me: Woop!!! done.

Kakashi: wow, we get our own foxes too XD hugs

Me: hugs yay!

Sakura: my fox is sooo cute 

Kakashi: well mine's black

Me: anyways, hope you enjoyed, the next chapter will be up asap (i'm up to chapter 6 on my pc XD)

Sakura: reviews please :D


	3. Chapter 3: A New Friend

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Naruto or any other character in this fic

Me: Woop!! next chapter is finally out

Kakashi: chapter three already? going fast :D

Sakura: i wanna know what happens with me and the fox

Me: well I'm not going to shout out spoilers for the readers, just read it and find out

Kakashi: anyway, hope you liked the other chapters, now enjoy reading this one

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CHAPTER THREE: A NEW FRIEND

Sakura woke up with the morning light shining in her eyes, finally realising that she didn't have any nightmares at all that night. She sits up, rubbing her eyes and wiping the sleep away before she remembered that she had a fox sleeping with her overnight. Sakura looks around her and finds the fox snoozing next to her still.

The fox stretches out her legs and yawns quietly. Sakura grinned, "Morning Kitsune," she said, patting the brown fur ball. Kitsune, the brown fox meows happily as Sakura crawled out of bed.

Before Sakura walked into her bathroom to wash up, she stood frozen at her feet. Her memories had come back and she was slowly replaying what had happened last night, "what a night," she said frustratingly.

Kitsune jumps off the bed and quickly nudges Sakura's leg in order to get her back to the real world, "meow," she said, brushing her tail against the medic's leg. Sakura looks down and grins lightly, "sorry little Kitsune, just faded for a bit," she stated.

"Be right back," Sakura added, patting Kitsune one last time before disappearing into the bathroom.

After half an hour, Sakura exited the bathroom with a white towel wrapped tight around her. She opens her closet to find some clean clothes while keeping an eye on her newly found fox friend. Kitsune was rolling around on Sakura's bed, hoping that the medic would play with her for a while.

Sakura ignores the fox and continues to search for her clothes to wear for the day. Once she found them, Sakura strips from her towel and tosses it on her bed and changes into her day outfit quickly. Kitsune, who was now under the towel, struggles to find the light from under the damp towel.

"Kitsune?" Sakura wondered, looking around curiously for the fox.

Sakura keeps looking around until the movements under the towel finally allowed Sakura to spot the fox, "there you are," she walks over to her bed and pats the fox, scratching Kitsune's belly and throwing a scrunched up sock around the room.

The two were having so much fun that Sakura had completely forgotten about what she was going to do today and had let time slip her mind, "oh crap," she sped out of her room and into the kitchen. Sakura rummages about in her cabinets in order to get something for Kitsune to eat; luckily, Sakura finds a pack of mince in her fridge. She quickly mashes it on a small plate and sets it on the ground, allowing Kitsune to munch it down quickly before demanding for seconds.

"Sorry Kitsune, that's all I have for now, but when we go into town, I'll be sure to pick up some real pet food for you," Sakura offered, kneeling down next to Kitsune and patting her gently.

With that said and done, Kitsune purrs again and cleans her face from her breakfast. Sakura prepares herself some toast with butter and jam and downs it with a glass of orange juice. All set for her day's work, Sakura leaves the apartment and locking it behind her.

Kitsune jumps up on Sakura's back, who didn't mind at all but was somewhat surprised in a way. The fox purrs happily while brushing her tail against Sakura's neck and face, "reowr," she droned, eyes squinted as always. Sakura reaches up and pats Kitsune before going down the steps and out onto the open streets.

The morning breeze filled the air as Sakura and Kitsune entered the dawning side of the market, where people had already opened their shops to welcome their customers to buy their merchandise. Sakura blissfully passed many people as they ogled the brown fox that sat upon the medic's shoulder and didn't mind the attention at all.

Sakura wondered why so many people stared so much due to Kitsune; she had seen a man walk before around with a chained tiger through the market and not many individuals gaped at the strange sight. Maybe the attention was because of Naruto's death and the relationship between him and the Kyuubi. Sakura ignored all those who gave her a scared look and moved on through the village until she found herself in the food store, "and now for your food Kitsune," mutters the medic as she raced into each aisle in search of cat food. Of course, Sakura finds the cat food and takes a bag of dry food along with a few cans of cat chow to see which Kitsune would like best.

After paying for the food, the pink haired medic and Kitsune exit the shop and were out in the streets again. Sakura had a few things to do at the hospital that she remembered only at that point, "okay Kitsune, I have to go to the hospital to file a few papers, I won't be long and I want you to stay outside until I call you," exclaimed the medic while giving the fox a gentle stroke from head to tail. Kitsune cuddles with Sakura, letting her know that she understood that, and so Sakura makes her way to the hospital.

"Stay here for now okay," Sakura briefs and puts Kitsune on the ground just outside the hospital.

Kitsune just sits in front of the main door, staring gladly at Sakura as she entered the massive building and disappearing in the hallways somewhere.

"Please Yoshino-sensei, it's Tsunade-sama's orders and I have to leave for two weeks in order to recover from my losses in the past month," those words alone set Sakura to think back about Naruto again.

Yoshino, another female medic, was the manager of the hospital and Sakura was the closest medic to have worked under her orders, "I understand that Sakura-san, but both the hospital and the patients need you here and I can't handle it all with one less medic," she clarified.

Sakura sighs in frustration; no one could ever outsmart Yoshino even if he or she were as close to her as Sakura was. She pinches the bridge of her nose before saying, "I really need this, even my former teacher, Kakashi needs it as well because we were a team and now him and I are the only ones left in Team 7," Yoshino leans to one side and tucks her brown hair behind her ear. She starts walking down the hallways with Sakura hot on her heels, "in my office Sakura-san," she demanded firmly.

Without a word, Sakura enters Yoshino's office and waited for her medic teacher to shut the door and take a seat, which she did eventually. Once the sigh from the brown haired medic was breathed out, she clears her throat and says, "Sakura-san, you are one of the best medical Kunoichi in all of Konoha, if you leave, there will be a mass shortage of professionals here in the village and that it when the problems start, you understand?" Sakura nodded, though wishing Yoshino could understand what she wanted to say.

Yoshino was the type not to listen to anyone's words but her own, even if Tsunade yelled at her face to face, but of course, Yoshino knew her boundaries and knew when she went too far with her tolerant and stubborn attitude and would listen to the Hokage alone.

Sakura always knew Yoshino was stubborn but never knew that it was that bad; her own medic teacher wouldn't let her own student leave the village for two weeks without her going mad. It was as if Yoshino couldn't live a day without her pink haired Sakura.

"Tsunade had planned this for a week Yoshino-sensei and Kakashi and I must go because it's a mission," Sakura demanded, her temper rising greatly with each unwanted response from her teacher.

The tree shattered into peaces as the silver haired Jounin landed on the ground, catching his breath, "Kakashi-senpai, it's pointless to take out your anger on defenceless objects," Yamato mentioned while manipulating more wood from the ground. Kakashi wasn't listening, he sped up and rammed straight into the trees, having no real reason to in the first place.

This routine Kakashi was going through happened ever since Naruto died, as if there was something inside Kakashi that needed to be unleashed to ease the pain. His Sharingan now activated, Kakashi focuses on an old tree and says, "Mangekyou Sharingan!" Kakashi's Sharingan changed from the three tomoe in that red eye into the combined pattern of the marks.

Yamato could tell this would end bad, "Kakashi-senpai, be careful with that; you know your vision will deteriorate if you use it too much," he warned. Yamato had a point, Kakashi felt his Chakra drain quickly whenever he used that technique.

"I know what I'm doing," he stated briefly before creating another dimension with his eye and sucking three trees into the blackness of the hole. Once it was closed, Kakashi's anger ceased and he calmed down, knowing that if he went on with his rage he would most certainly kill himself due to the amount of Chakra he would use.

Kakashi slides his forehead protector over his left eye once the Mangekyou Sharingan reverted to its normal stage and he sits down on the grass, staring at what damage he had caused. With a sigh of frustration, Yamato walks to Kakashi's side and sits down next to him, "Kakashi-senpai, this mission should help you with the loss you have had to endure in the past month, and it would be wise if you could take it easy through the next fought night," he elucidated, giving his long time friend a pat on the back.

Kakashi sighs heavily while staring at the grass, "I know," he lamented tiredly.

Silence ensued between the two friends before Yamato raised his head and narrowed his gaze far ahead, "what's with the fox?" he wondered, staring up into a tree where a young black fox sat on the branch and stared at Kakashi with his squinted eyes.

Kakashi moaned loudly and instantly tried to ignore the fox, "that thing has been following me all day and I don't know why," he said, pointing at the black bundle.

Sai, the emotionless boy who sat in a tree not far from the two Jounins, was drawing his lifelike animals with his ink and scroll, "do you want me to take it out Kakashi-sensei?" he offered, pulling out his small sword and pulling a fake grin.

"No way," Kakashi snapped, glaring at the pale boy as he stared at the black fox.

The fox meowed happily before trying to jump up into a higher branch but couldn't grip onto the wood with its paws and begins to tumble to the ground that was high.

As an instant reaction, Kakashi leaps into action and catches the fox just before it hit the ground. Kakashi looks into his arms to find the fox startled before it began to purr like mad and squirming around in the Jounin's arms.

"Silly thing," he muttered, while carrying the black fox over to where Yamato was sitting.

Kakashi lets the fox go and sits back down, but the fox wouldn't leave, he stayed right where he was and ogled Kakashi with his big blue eyes before meowing cutely. Yamato couldn't help but sigh, "You know Kakashi-san, that fox is kind of cute and he's been following you all day as you said before so why not just keep him," he unwaveringly implied. Kakashi shrugged, not sure, if he should go for it. He stares at the fox, thinking back to last night when he first saw the thing on his bed; the fox was instantly nudged off the bed before Kakashi ended up following it into the forest just outside the village.

"Oh okay, he can stay," the fox perked his head up with joy and jumped up in Kakashi's arms and purring like crazy.

Meanwhile, Yoshino leaned back on her chair and Sakura could tell where this was going: nowhere, "Sakura-san, what have you always wanted to be when you were young?" she asked.

This question came up every time her and Sakura had an argument and Yoshino always won the battle in the end. Sakura felt curious at first until the thought came up in her head, '_married to Sasuke-kun,_' "a medic of the Leaf," she stated dryly.

"Then if you want to keep your job, you are to keep yourself safe throughout these next two weeks during your recovery mission," Yoshino's words stunned Sakura's reaction and was taken aback by Yoshino's expression when she said it.

"I can go?" Sakura asked, ready to yip around in utter joy.

"Yes, but keep in mind that you will have a lot of work set for you when you get back," a wide grin on Yoshino's face assured that she wasn't lying. Sakura nods with a bow, satisfied that she got what she deserved; no one had ever gotten Yoshino to give in after a long conversation like this, it was a miracle that it happened.

'_Oh my god, I convinced Yoshino-sensei to let me go on the mission. How cool am I?_' Sakura couldn't help but smirk at Yoshino's defeat, but pulled it together with a soft smile.

Yoshino sat there, eyeing Sakura widely before saying, "I understand what you are going through Sakura-san, that's why I have decided to let you go so you can recover from your losses," Sakura raised an eyebrow, '_wait a minute, didn__'__t I tell her that before? Oh well,_' she thought, before grinning like an idiot and ready to go: "hah, in yo face!" with pointed fingers, but Yoshino wasn't the type to take jokes like that and would most certainly get angry with her medical student.

Sakura stood with nothing but determination in her eyes and waited for Yoshino to dismiss her, "you are released," she said calmingly.

"Arigatou, Yoshino-sensei," Sakura was honoured that she was able to go somewhere now that Yoshino agreed to it.

Sakura quickly leaves the office and makes her way to the exit of the hospital. Once out of the tall building, Sakura remembered that she had left Kitsune to sit and wait until she got back, "Kitsune?" she wondered, eyes shifting from one place to another, hastily trying to find the brown fox.

Sakura looks to her left and sees Kitsune just sitting there patiently, eyes squinted as usual, "there you are, I was getting worried about you," she stated as the fox made her way to the medic.

Kitsune hops up on Sakura's shoulder and purrs like mad, "lets go Kitsune," Sakura suggested and began to walk down the streets of Konoha again.

It was long past midday and Kakashi had spent almost the whole day on the training field with Sai and Yamato and the pestering little black fox, "so Kakashi-senpai, what are you going to do with that black fox?" enquired his fellow Jounin.

"Not sure, I might keep him," Kakashi replied tiredly, still thinking of Naruto's departure.

Yamato sighs before standing up, "Sai, are you ready for tomorrow's mission?" he asks briefly. Sai nods as he leaps out of the tree and putting his inking scroll away, "yes Yamato-sensei," he replied quickly. Yamato faces Kakashi, who was still sitting on the grass with the black fox on his lap and says, "Kakashi-senpai, Sai and I will be leaving now, the mission tomorrow will take all day so we need to get ready," Kakashi nods, slightly disappointed in something, "okay, then I guess you won't be able to see me off tomorrow morning," he mentioned.

Yamato sighs again, scratching the back of his head frustratingly, "yeah, I'm sorry, but don't worry, your mission will be fine and Sakura shouldn't be too much of a handful, besides, she was your student after all," he explained.

Kakashi nodded his head and patted the black fox roughly, making him scowl, "well, see you in two weeks then," Yamato waved and exited the training grounds with Sai following him. Kakashi waved back silently, staring at the trail they left behind before the black fox nudges the Jounin with a meow. Kakashi faces his attention to the fox and says, "what do you want you little mischief?" those quite harsh words made the black fox meow in a cute moan, causing Kakashi to sigh.

Kakashi stands up, ignoring the fox that followed him around constantly and he jumps up in the tree, pulling out his orange book and relaxing himself with a good read, while the black fox leaps up into a different tree to find something to do.

The winds were picking up as Sakura approached the fields with Kitsune following behind her. Sakura stands on the now long grass and stared at the greens as the airstream made it dance through every gust.

"How nostalgic," muttered the Jounin medic as she stared at the training posts. Kitsune sat there, examining everything that came across her line of sight.

Sakura began to have flashbacks from when she and Naruto trained here until her memories dragged her to the death of the blonde haired boy. She winces with a painful moan and clenches her fists again, "aargh," she grunted quietly.

Kitsune quickly brings Sakura to the reality world with a heavy nudge and meow. Sakura looks down at the brown fox and sighs heavily, "sorry Kitsune," she pleaded before hearing a familiar voice, "Sakura-chan," it was Kakashi, sitting up in the tree and reading Icha Icha Paradise. He gave a lazy one-eyed stare at the younger Jounin, making Sakura raise her eyebrow with curiosity, '_what__'__s with Kakashi-sensei, he always ends up where I am and he__'__s constantly staring at me with that lazy eye,_' she said inwardly.

Kakashi jumps down from the tree and closes his orange book and tucks it in his back pouch, "what brings you here?" he asks, taking a few steps closer to the pink haired medic.

"I had some time to spare so I decided to pay a visit to somewhere where my memories would come back to haunt me," replied Sakura sarcastically, but not showing it physically.

Kakashi nods slowly before tilting his head when he spots a young brown fox hiding behind Sakura's legs, ogling the tall Jounin in front of her, "cute fox," Kakashi started lamely. Sakura looks down to where Kitsune was and says, "yeah, her name is Kitsune, she came back after I returned from the Konoha forest," Sakura glared at Kakashi with her emerald green eyes, reminding Kakashi about last night.

"What about your fox sensei? You mentioned that you followed a fox into the forest before it vanished after hearing me scream my lungs out," Sakura added, wondering with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi rubs the back of his head before looking back at the trees, "my fox? He's up in the trees somewhere," Sakura leans to one side to try to spot Kakashi's fox and finds it high up in a massive tree, "found him," she states. Kakashi spots the black fox and hears him meow loudly.

The black fox notices Kitsune sitting by Sakura's leg and attempts a jump to the ground, which was obviously too high for him to land safely, "crap," Kakashi exclaims before leaping into action and catching the fox right before he hit the ground. The fox was safe but Kakashi received an awkward landing after catching the black fur ball and hit the ground on his ass.

He winces with a painful grunt, but exceedingly hid the pain on his hidden face. The black fox ignores his master's rescue and trots towards Sakura and Kitsune with squinted eyes. Kakashi gets up with an aching twinge in his backside and slowly makes his way to the others.

"This surely is a cute fox, what did you name him?" Sakura asked, patting the black bundle of joy.

Kakashi hummed in thought for a moment before coming up with a name, "Kuro," he declared, staring at the black fox on the ground with an unpredictable expression in his eye.

Sakura nods, "cute name," she mutters, watching the two foxes introduce each other through the constant staring of one another.

Sakura smirked before saying, "Hehe, looks like Kitsune and Kuro are getting along already," she grinned lightly as she observed the foxes' progress of friendship.

Kitsune sat patiently as she awaited the approach of Kuro, who was excited to learn new things. Kuro skulks closer to the brown fox, while Kitsune stood her ground. The two foxes were only an inch apart; Kuro takes in Kitsune's scent before the brown fox got an unexpected lick on her face, which surprised both Kakashi and Sakura.

Kuro went too far for Kitsune's likings and whacked the black fox on the head and started chasing him around. Sakura watched momentarily before glancing at Kakashi, "maybe not just yet," she said with an inward giggle.

Kakashi chuckled as Kuro was being chased, "yeah well, I'm pretty sure they'll get along eventually, besides, they have no choice anyway when we have to spend the next two weeks together," he added, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Kitsune and Kuro were now attacking each other and Sakura was beginning to worry about Kitsune's safety, "okay that's enough," she ended the cat fight and picks up Kitsune, "sensei, you need to keep an eye on Kuro," she warned with a concerned glare.

"Don't worry Sakura, Kuro will be a good boy on the mission and hopefully not a nuisance when we are trying to enjoy ourselves," Kakashi swore with a raised hand as a sign of promise.

* * *

**Author's notes**: Before you throw anything at me, I just wanted to let you know that I exadurated with Kakashi being a bit angst and throwing a fit at the poor trees. I even thought that using the Mangekyou Sharingan was a bit over the top, but oh well; usually the more insane it gets, the better it is, but I'm not 100 sure. On the good side here, I'd like to thank all those who reviewed, I really appreciated it, and I hope it continues .

Me: woohoo XD

Sakura: that seemed a bit more like a filler

Me: it sort of was, it just makes the fic seem longer and show us what happened in that day, thats all. And besides, the title says it all, you did make a new friend and bonded briefly with Kitsune

Sakura: oh okay then

Kakashi: why did I use Mangekyou Sharingan on the trees: (

Me: sorry, just wanted to shout out what you an do 

Kakashi: ...okay : )

Sakura: anyways, hope you liked this chapter as much as the rest XD

Me: thanks again for the reviews, the next chapter will be up as soon as the reviews start reeling in : P

Kakashi: review time!!!o


	4. Chapter 4: Mission Start

All I can say as a personal note is thank you guys so much for sticking with me, I ahve to note out that this fanfic is going to be a long one (I'm not even half way through on the PC yet, I'm up to 26000 words already)

Me: finally the reviews have doubled leaps in the air

Kakashi and Sakura: stare oddly...

Me: I can hug you all XD

Kakashi: you don't want to scare the readers . 

Me: okay okay, gomen

Sakura: anyway, sorry for holding you up

Me: yea, heres chapter 4, enjoy

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR:MISSION START

Sakura stared a moment more before beginning to make her way out of the training field, "Kitsune and I better get home and pack so I suggest you should do the same if you don't want to rush things," she pointed out, looking back at the other Jounin. Kakashi nods as Kuro climbed up on his shoulder and began purring, "see you tomorrow then," Kakashi said as he turned around to stare at the sun that slowly but surely began to set in the horizon.

Before Sakura was out of sight, she turns around, saying, "Kakashi-sensei,"

"Hm?" Kakashi looks over his shoulder.

"What time should we meet at the village gate?" she continued.

"8am," Kakashi said quickly before walking off with Kuro on his shoulder. Sakura stood for a while before shaking her head and heading straight home.

Once at her apartment, Sakura dashes into her room and begins to pack her bag. She pulls out a bag from her closet that she hadn't used long since before Naruto had passed away and dumps it on the bed, "and now to pack for the big mission," Sakura grabs a bundle of clothes and places it neatly in her bag. She walks into her bathroom and takes a bar of soap and her spare toothbrush. Sakura finds everything she needed for the mission and places it all in her bag.

Into the kitchen, Sakura grabs all the food and other kitchenware she needed and back to the room she went, "there, all set for tomorrow," Sakura stood proudly in front of her bed with a packed bag.

Sakura clicked to something in her thoughts and immediately glared at her desk drawer, "need to be safe," she mumbled as she opened the drawer and rummaged about in it before pulling out her kunai pouch that contained three kunai knives. Sakura hastily puts it in an easily reachable pocket in her bag and now she was ready.

"Time for bed," Sakura gladly stated and changed into her pyjamas and hid under the covers with Kitsune jumping on soon after.

Meanwhile, Kakashi sat on his bed with a pile of clothes and an empty bag, "too much stuff," he sighed, rubbing the back of his head tiredly and reordering his stuff, "this can stay…this can stay…wear twice…stay…wear twice…keep here," Kakashi packed all the essentials along with the clothes he picked out to wear on the mission.

Kuro lay there on Kakashi's pillow and waited for Kakashi to finish his packing. Kakashi got everything ready and right at the point where he was finished, it was 11:30 in the evening, so the silver haired Jounin tucked himself under the covers, sleeping until daylight struck his eyes.

The morning had arrived and Sakura was up already before her alarm went off, "I just couldn't sleep last night Kitsune," she said, patting and snoozing fox gently, "excited for the new mission, yet sad to leave the village for such a long time," she added softly before staring at a photo of Team 7 that was taken seven years ago when the team was first assigned together.

Back then, Sakura still had her long hair. Sakura grins softly as she searched the people in the photo; Naruto was scowling at Sasuke while Sakura smiled happily like everything in her life was perfect. Kakashi looked as though he wished he had a normal team to teach.

Once again, Sakura had let time slip; she looks at the time and it said 7:30am, "damn it," Sakura leaps out of bed and straight into the bathroom to shower. Once out, Sakura changed into her day clothes and brushed her hair quickly and prepared the things she needed, doing her last few chores around the house and feeding Kitsune.

Everything was done now, and Sakura was ready to leave, "I'm going to be late, but Kakashi-sensei is usually later than I am so I can make a quick stop at the flower store," she said as she walked out of the door of her apartment and locked it behind her. Kitsune sat on her shoulder and allowed Sakura to leave the building and head for the flower store.

The streets were silent on this time of the day, early and the scent of the lifting mist was strong; Sakura did love these kinds of mornings where everything was starting to awaken.

The flower shop was just a few metres away and it was already open. There was a tall light blonde haired girl in purple watering the flowers, "hey Ino," Sakura called enthusiastically.

The blonde faces the calling voice to find Sakura running over to her, "Sakura, hey, I haven't seen you in a while," she said, giving the pink haired medic a hug. Sakura pulls a soft smile, saying, "Yeah, I've just been very busy lately and I have to meet up at the village gate for my two-week mission so I came here to say goodbye,"

Ino was surprised before she nods her head, "oh yeah I heard about that, you and your old teacher have to go on a mission together," she winked at Sakura with a nudge, "you and the old man aye," Ino added with a silly grin on her face.

Sakura's face turns red and she scowls irritably at the blonde, "no, there's nothing going on you dumb ass, it's just a mission and Tsunade-sama's orders were for us to have a good time, that's it," Sakura explained, rubbing her face to rid herself from the colour.

"Okay, don't worry, I was only kidding," Ino hoped she wouldn't get a beating from her best and only friend.

Ino always had a fashion to call Sakura, Forehead because she had a big forehead, but since Naruto died, Ino decided to keep short on the insults, which was a wise decision for Ino. Not only is Ino, Sakura's best friend, the two were rivals because they both worked hard to win Sasuke's love, which of course never happened, but now that Sasuke left the village, the two Kunoichi became ordinary friends; gossiping became short and ever since Naruto's death they have been quiet amongst each other.

Ino was looking around when she sees Kitsune sniffing the flowers, "umm, Sakura, what is that sniffing my flowers?" she asks, ready to pelt the fox with her watering can.

Sakura rolls her eyes at Ino's expression and says, "don't worry, that's just my fox, Kitsune, she showed up two nights ago and I've had her ever since," Kitsune walks over to Ino and was greeted with a cuddle from the blonde, "she is kind of cute," she said with a giggle.

Sakura looks at the clock in Ino's store from outside, "oh crap, now I'm definitely going to be late," she snapped, grabbing Kitsune and hugging Ino, "sorry that we didn't get to chat for very long Ino, but I really gotta go," Ino gladly returned the hug before mentioning, "be careful Sakura," Sakura nodded her head and ran off, waving her arm behind her before she was out of Ino's sight.

At the village gate, Sakura was surely late, but Kakashi wasn't there, "no Kakashi-sensei, this is just great," Sakura groaned in irritation before she heard movement behind her. Sakura faces the sound and there stood Kakashi, all packed and ready, "yo," he greeted lamely with a wave.

Sakura sighed and said, "Ready to go?" Kakashi nods with a silly grin on his masked face and walks ahead of her with Sakura right behind him.

"Sakura-san, Kakashi-kun, wait," a powerful voice commanded.

Sakura and Kakashi turned around to find Tsunade and her assistant Shizune at the village gate. Sakura immediately walked over to her presence. Kakashi just slouches and shuffles his feet to Tsunade.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura awaited the Hokage's orders.

Tsunade nodded her head and says, "There's a slight change in plans for your mission," both Kakashi and Sakura were surprised and waited for Tsunade to continue on her issue.

"A slight change?" Kakashi wondered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Tsunade nods again, "yes, it appears that there is an S-rank Leaf rogue ninja on the loose, and unfortunately it is Uchiha Sasuke," she explained. Sakura felt her knees quiver suddenly, and Kakashi felt his anger build up already.

"I am not asking you to take him out, I am just warning you to be extremely careful when you are on your mission, but if you are confronted by him, you must take him out, it is the only risk free option you have," Tsunade added, staring at the two Jounins.

Sakura and Kakashi nod, understanding well what they have to expect of this mission, "be safe on your mission and try to enjoy yourselves in these next two weeks," Tsunade waved her goodbyes and Kakashi and Sakura left the village for their mission.

Its eyes glared at the two Jounins and growled inaudibly as it sat up in the high trees. It narrows its cat-like eyes, ears twitching and tail brushing the leaves around it, "Team Kakashi," it said deeply as it glowered at Sakura and then at Kakashi, before retreating.

The day started off quiet, Kakashi was reading his dirty book and Sakura was enjoying the scenery while Kitsune and Kuro raced about, chasing one another for the fun of it, "so Sasuke-kun is back," Sakura wanted to know, and Kakashi could understand that, "yeah, but I don't know why he would come back, it's as if he still has something to do here," he said, eyes searching all over the area.

Sakura now felt unsafe. She shakes her head and says, "It definitely doesn't have to do with Itachi," Kakashi nods, "yeah, because Itachi has been gone from these close countries for years," he added worriedly.

Kakashi puts his book away in his back pouch and looks up at the sky in thought, '_what would Sasuke want with Konoha?_' Kakashi's thoughts beckoned Sakura to ponder about the Jounin's beliefs. Sakura now found it hard to try to enjoy herself now that she had both Naruto's death and Sasuke's return on her mind.

"So what shall we do first?" asked Sakura, changing the subject completely.

Kakashi shrugged, "we'll see what there is to do when we get to our destinations," he decided briefly. Sakura nods, finally turning her attention to the brown fox that was playing around in front of her as she walked down the road with her former teacher by her side. All those thoughts in Sakura's head made Kitsune sense it, causing her to meow and nudge Sakura to relax for now and focus on the mission at hand.

Kakashi shifts his gaze to the right where Sakura was walking, saying, "it seems that our animal companions can sense our emotional changes that occur and by what I can tell, Kitsune is keeping you from your haunting memories," Sakura stares at the silver haired Jounin and says, "what makes you say that?" Kakashi nods his head down at Kitsune, to show Sakura what he meant; Kitsune was basically copying everything Sakura was feeling and doing that, Kitsune stops Sakura from reacting with her past and falling apart.

"I see," Sakura stated, picking up Kitsune and cuddling her, causing the fox to purr happily and meow in joy.

Kuro on the other hand, was constantly ogling the brown fox until he climbs up Kakashi's back, making him wince, "nngh," his eye twitched as the black fox clawed his way up his back and made cosy on Kakashi's shoulder. Sakura chuckles inwardly and ignores the matter.

As the day passed, Sakura tried her best to heart herself onto one subject and was constantly getting attention from Kitsune with all the nudging and purring. There was a constant silence between the former student and teacher, only the sounds of their footsteps scuffing on the dusty road and the swish of the wind in the trees. There was often the sound of a page being flipped as Kakashi read his book that was written by the famous Jiraiya, a legendary Sannin.

Kuro was getting sleepy as he awkwardly lay on Kakashi's shoulder and decided to get a better view on things by trying to sit on the Jounin's head. Kuro stands up on his hind legs and balances on the back of Kakashi's neck and grips onto his silver hair, "Kuro, stop it," Kakashi moaned impatiently with an irritated look in his dark eye. Sakura smirked but tried not to laugh at the stupidity that Kuro was causing; it was just too funny to watch.

Sakura was starting to get tired from walking all day; five hours to be exact, and with no break. Kakashi looks back to find Sakura straggling a bit, "getting tired?" Kakashi started. Sakura looks up and nods lightly, "kind of," she muttered before her stomach's growling got the better of her. Sakura blushes and hushes her stomach from the embarrassing noises.

"And hungry," Kakashi added with a light chuckle.

Kakashi rolls his eyes and stops, "we'll rest here," he said, walking to the side of the road. Sakura follows quickly and the two rest under a huge tree, where the roots stuck out high enough to sit on and surround the area. Sakura dumps her bag on the ground and sits down next to it with a relieving sigh. Kakashi sits not too far from the medic and takes off his backpack and opens it to pull out his food.

Sakura reaches in her bag pocket and pulls out a packet of cat food, "here Kitsune," she offered the fox a handful of cat biscuits and let Kitsune finish so she could have her lunch. Once Kitsune had nibbled away her lunch, Sakura went looking in her bag for her own food, but there was a problem, "oh crap," she muttered to herself while searching deeper.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi wondered, tilting his head to see what Sakura was complaining about.

Sakura mumbles words to herself that Kakashi couldn't hear or understand and finally replied to Kakashi's enquiry, "I believe I forgot to bring food for myself," she said lamely, feeling stupid that she forgot about her own needs.

Kakashi rolls his eyes as he watched Sakura fall apart right before his eyes. Sakura grunts irritably, "I can't believe I can bring food for others but not for myself, aargh, how dim-witted of me," Sakura rubs her temples and stares at her feet whilst her stomach continued to grumble to get food.

"Here," Kakashi sighed, holding out a small bread roll.

Sakura looked puzzled at first and stared at the bread roll to Kakashi, constantly looking back and forth, "but that's your food," Sakura protested, though her stomach gladly wanted her to take it.

Kakashi shrugs, "so, I have more food in my bag, so just take it," he waved the bread roll around, waiting for Sakura to take it. Sakura pulls an urging face and hesitantly takes the food from Kakashi. In return, Sakura stares at the bread and says, "thank you," she tears a bit off from the roll and nibbles it away. Kakashi just sat there, grinning like an idiot whilst pulling out a bottle of water. He gets up from his spot and walks off, "be right back, I'll be about ten minutes," he called back.

Once Kakashi was out of sight, Sakura quickly gets up and stands over by the tree where Kakashi was last seen. Sakura knew she would probably be caught, but she couldn't help it; she had some unfinished business to do on Naruto's behalf, and that was to find out Kakashi's true identity.

'_Just go for it Sakura, he won__'__t know, you__'__re a Jounin, you can do it,_' Inner Sakura wailed out in determination. Sakura had to do it. She peers around the tree and no sign of Kakashi, so Sakura decided to take the risk by making her way deeper into the trees until she stopped at the sight of a river.

Sakura looks around and finds Kakashi standing on the riverbank with his water bottle in his hand. Sakura sneakily gets down on her knees while staying perfectly still behind the tree to observe what is going on.

The medic watches Kakashi drop down to his knees as well and splash water on his face. It seemed pretty typical that Kakashi had his back facing Sakura and she couldn't see the man's face. Kakashi sits up on his knees and grabs his bottle and drinks a few mouthfuls of water. Sakura still couldn't see Kakashi's revealed face; she sat there, cursing herself of her foolish and childish behaviour, wanting to see something so bad and ripping the grass from below her.

Kakashi cups some of the river water in his hands and washes his face, letting the water run down his neck and seep into his mask and vest. He runs his wet hands through his silver hair and down the back of his neck, making sure he stayed nice and hydrated during the trip. Sakura couldn't help but nearly melt on the spot; if Sakura would get butterflies just by watching Kakashi wash his face, imagine how Sakura would react if she actually saw his face.

Kakashi sighs tiredly, having another drink before Kuro startled him with a meow. Kakashi jumped, looking to his right to find Kuro purring and waiting to be played with, "silly fox," he muttered. Sakura nearly got the sight of Kakashi's nose, making her sigh. That sigh Sakura gave off made Kuro's ears twitch at the sound. He faces the sound and tilts his head, '_shit, I__'__ve been found,_' Sakura inwardly screamed before hiding her presence.

"What's up, Kuro?" Kakashi wondered, before hearing it too. Kakashi rolls his eyes and pulls up his mask, making his way back to his bag and where Sakura was supposed to be.

Sakura sat there, leaning against the tree and staring at her backpack, "oh boy," she sighed, rubbing her eyes before Kitsune jumped into her sight. Sakura was startled by the unexpected appearance of her fox friend. She pats Kitsune gently before Naruto came to her mind. Sakura sat there as Naruto's last words repeated time and again while holding Kitsune playfully.

"Meow," Kitsune licks Sakura's nose in order for her to come back to reality.

Sakura snaps out of her flashback and pulled a fake smile to Kitsune, making her purr again, "you're always looking out for me aren't you," Sakura started playing with the brown fox by throwing a stick to get Kitsune to chase it like mad.

Kitsune wrestles with the stick continuously until Sakura praised Kitsune to come to her, which of course, she did. Sakura lies down on her stomach and cuddles with Kitsune again.

Sakura pats Kitsune from head to tail and smiled softly. Kitsune faces the medic with a happy purr and playfully puts her paw on Sakura's nose, making her giggle, "Kitsune, that tickles," the brown fox's whiskers were brushing against Sakura's cheeks as she was being cuddled.

All the commotion drew Kakashi back to his things, but to stop behind a tree and taking the time to listen to what Sakura was commenting on, as well as watching what she and Kitsune were doing. Sakura lay there, legs kicked up and hitting the ground with her toes whenever she reached out for the young fox.

Sakura stares playfully at Kitsune and prods the fox on the nose, making Kitsune fall over on her back in her clumsy ways. Sakura giggles joyfully as she gave Kitsune a belly rub, causing the fox to squirm around on her back.

In perspective of Sakura's inner life, it's like a cherry blossom growing deep within Sakura's mind, where the sun shines constantly to show Sakura's happy and cheerful life, but ever since Naruto died, it's as if someone stepped on the flower, causing Sakura to fall apart. Throughout the month of pain and agony, the rain clouds in Sakura's mind have been preventing the flower from regrowing into its beautiful self, drowning any good and positive thing to enter the medic. Now, Sakura's rain cloud has lightened up and allowing the blossom to have a chance at regrowing.

* * *

Note: yeah the last bit sounded a bit weird but I just wanted to brief on what Sakura went through in her life so far, and by that I use cherry blossoms...don't ask

Me: okay...twiddles with thimbs anxiously

Kakashi: calm down girl, you'll do fine

Sakura: chapter five is already done, just breathe deep woman

Me: yea, just a bit nervous is all

Kakashi: okay...

Me: now I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did, now reviews please


	5. Chapter 5: The First Village

Note: Here we are, chapter five; and just to be on the honest side, I'm not good with chapter names to bare with me . Also, I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in this fanfic, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto : )

Kakashi: hey Yan, do you ever think your readers get bored of this?

Me: I don't know, I don't know what they think when they read, but if they had something to say, I'm sure they would've said it by now

Sakura: what's with the random question all of a sudden?

Kakashi: what...I was just asking...nothing wrong with being curious to know things

Me: besides, I love the readers, they've stuck with me this far already and I hope it continues

Sakura: yeah, that's the spirit XD

Me: well, anyway, here we have it, chapter five, hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it

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CHAPTER FIVE: THE FIRST VILLAGE

Kakashi leans against the tree, not too far from Sakura, and not really caring if he was noticed. Kakashi couldn't help but stare at Sakura, before his gaze was fixed upon the medic's butt, making him shiver inwardly and blush uncontrollably. The Jounin had enough of the eavesdropping and came out of the shadows with Kuro racing ahead of him.

"Having fun?" Kakashi started with a grin, rubbing his masked face to rid himself from the redness.

Sakura looks over her shoulder and smiles lightly, "I guess you could say that, yeah," Sakura replied as she turned over on her back and sits up. Kakashi puts his drink bottle away and picks up his backpack. Sakura gets up as well, returning a warming smile at Kitsune and swinging her bag over her shoulder and was ready to go.

Kakashi was surprised that Sakura was able to smile, or was that a forced smile that Sakura pulled? "Okay, ready to carry on?" Kakashi insisted, slowly making his way to the dirt road.

"Coming," Sakura replied, picking up Kitsune and running after the other Jounin.

Kuro races after Kakashi and climbs up his back again, making the man cringe with a twitching eye, "Kuro," he groaned, glaring at the black fox as it sat on his shoulder before balancing on the back of Kakashi's neck and clinging onto his silver hair. Kakashi grunts irritably and looks up at what he couldn't see, "Kuro, stop being so annoying," Kakashi warned.

Kuro just meows, purring wildly and having a painful attempt to climb up the man's neck to sit on his head, "ow, of all the…" Kakashi reaches back to grab Kuro but the black fox was too quick for him. Kuro scurries onto Kakashi's head and stayed perfectly still whilst Kakashi groaned loudly and crossed his arms childishly.

Sakura giggles at the annoyance towards Kakashi as she held Kitsune in her arms, Kakashi sighs lazily as Kuro purred on the man's head, "Sakura-chan, how is it that you get the gentle and controllable animals and I'm stuck with this little pain in the ass?" Kakashi mildly asked, reaching up to pat Kuro.

Sakura shrugs her shoulders, wondering the same thing, "I don't know, but I guess we'll find out eventually," she replied, grinning lightly. Sakura's thundercloud was getting darker again and Kitsune could feel it. She squirms around in the medic's arms so she'd be in a more comfortable position, until she was in a resting pose. Sakura glances down at the brown fox, noting that Kitsune was falling asleep.

"How long until we reach the first village?" Sakura wondered.

Kakashi gazes up and the clear blue sky and says, "umm, about another half hour and we should be there," Sakura nods, knowing she got the message.

The walk was measureless, Sakura felt her legs fall asleep right under her and she was getting tired, knowing that Kitsune had the right idea of falling asleep in her arms. Kakashi too was getting sleepy, but it was hard to tell because of that lazy expression Kakashi had in his eyes, always lazy and tired looking. He was reading his dirty orange book as usual and the silence was getting irritating; Sakura appreciated the silence but this silence was too long for her liking.

Sakura was about to go sleep walking until Kakashi snap shut his book, startling Sakura and keeping her awake. Sakura jumped, "did I surprise you?" Kakashi enquired calmly. Sakura looks down in her arms to find her brown fox sound asleep. She nods, "yeah, a little," she muttered, staring at the road in front of her.

"Well, we're here," Kakashi started, quite happily. Sakura didn't even realise that all that walking made Sakura lose track of her timing. She was glad though, "finally," Sakura sighed.

Kakashi and Sakura make their way through the busy streets of the village until they reached their first destination of the mission, "we'll rest here for the night," Kakashi stated firmly. Sakura nudges Kitsune so she'd wake up, "hey Kitsune, we're at a rest stop, you can wake up now," Sakura whispered gently.

Kitsune flickered her eyes open and yawned tiredly. Sakura smiled softly and put the fox on the ground. She walks over to the entrance of a massive hotel building and read the sign at the door:

_In this building, there is:_

_No smoking,_

_No food or drink,_

_And no animals allowed in the premises_

Sakura stared wide eyed at the door, "aww man," Sakura sighed. She makes her way down the steps and gives Kakashi a disappointed stare, "no animals allowed," she grumbled sadly. Kakashi stood there in sigh before a great thought came to mind, "hang on, I've got an idea," he started with a thoughtful grin.

Sakura smiled at Kitsune, "this will only be for a little while, and I'll let you know when it's safe to come out," Sakura said, nuzzling Kitsune's foxy face and closing her bag. Kakashi glared annoyingly at Kuro and pointed a finger at him, "okay kiddo, please stay quiet in here until I let you out, because if you blow our cover, we're out of here, you got that?" he warned firmly, patting Kuro and closing up his backpack.

The two Jounins gently put on their bags without startling the foxes and made their way inside the hotel building, with Kakashi being the modest one and letting Sakura in first; such a gentleman he is. The building was quiet, but at the end of the hallway was a young blonde haired woman, leaned back on her chair, listening to music and filing her nails; Sakura smelt trouble from where she stood.

Both Sakura and Kakashi took steady paces to the counter to stop Kitsune and Kuro from moving around in the backpacks, "uhh, hi," Kakashi started with a brief wave, trying not to move too much. At an instant, the blonde haired lady sits up on her chair, throws her filer away and rips the earplugs from her ears, paying full attention to the tall and hansom man standing before her with a cheesy smile.

"Hi there, welcome to the village hotel," said the woman in a gleeful attempt to check out the silver haired Jounin.

Sakura glared evilly at the blonde, who didn't even bother to look at the medic standing behind Kakashi. The blonde rests her head on her hand as she stared in compulsion at the tall Jounin, "yeah, we'd like to stay here for the night," Kakashi clarified, trying not to look suspicious.

The blonde smiled and leaned to the side and glanced at the pink haired medic looking oh so annoyed, "so it will be you and your uhh…daughter?" wondered the blonde with a raised eyebrow, fleeting looks from Kakashi to Sakura, trying to compare how Kakashi could be the father of Sakura, some mistake she made.

Sakura was sickened by what the blonde's first impressions were towards the medic and if she went on with her humourless jokes, Sakura would most certainly sock a punch in the woman's eye.

"Uhh hehe, no, she's just a friend of mine," Kakashi corrected the lady's silly mistake and ogled strangely at her, while Sakura had her arms crossed and was ready to explode, '_oh yeah, what you gonna do now?_' Inner Sakura shrieked angrily whilst punching the air repeatedly.

What Kakashi said gave the blonde a disappointed vibe swimming around in her gut, what a big mistake she made. The blonde haired woman felt the embarrassment sink in before gulping it down, "okay, lets just see if we have a room available," she muttered, swinging around on her wheelie chair and hitting the keys on the computer.

Sakura glared impatiently at the blonde as she scrolled down the screen for any open rooms. This was in fact not the only problem at hand. Kuro was getting restless and wanted to do something and was moving around constantly in Kakashi's bag. In attempt to hush the black fox, Kakashi elbows his backpack to make Kuro shut up, which so he did eventually.

"Yes, there is a room available, let me just show you the way," the woman behind the counter grabs one of many keys from the wall and exits the reservation room and escorts Kakashi and Sakura up two flights of stairs. On their way up to the room, the blonde stares at Kakashi and received constant glares of immorality from Sakura as they reached the room.

Once there, the woman unlocks the apartment room and allows Kakashi and Sakura to enter. Although Sakura hated the blonde woman, she didn't mind what the room looked like, it seemed liveable and decent, "two separate beds if you don't mind with kitchen and bathroom to your left," announced the lady, ogling Kakashi once again for the nth time.

"Thanks," Kakashi replied, staring at the view from where he stood.

The blonde haired lady handed Kakashi the keys to the apartment and was polite enough to mention one last thing, "just to warn you, there is a couple in the room next-door who are quite noisy," after that, she left without a word. Kakashi shuts the door behind him and sits on one of the beds, "finally, a place to rest properly," he sighs in relief. Sakura just stared at the other Jounin with disgust, "what?" Kakashi asked, playing innocent.

Sakura folds her arms with irritation and finally says, "Didn't you see that girl checking you out before?" she awaited the Jounin's reply with a sour face before Kakashi finally got the chance to answer back, "really?" he witted in surprise.

Sakura rolls her eyes with a sigh, "yeah, the second you started the discussion, she was completely under your service, as if she was cast under a spell and would obey your every command," she exclaimed. Kakashi smirks and laughs briefly before saying, "I like that service, but what made you care?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the pink haired medic.

"Uhh, well…umm…uh…I umm…that it-" Sakura drabbled on with words she couldn't spit out; Kakashi was losing his patience.

"That it, what?" Kakashi tried encouraging Sakura to answer his question.

Sakura finally collected the right words from within and says, "That it was very rood that that girl was seeing you in a totally different way," Sakura sighs, ready to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

Kakashi raises an eyebrow, "you're jealous," he said childishly, smirking widely whilst Sakura was taken aback from what he just spat out.

"What?" Sakura snapped.

Kakashi chuckles sheepishly before saying, "well I don't mean to brag but, I'm irresistible to women," though it was masked away, Kakashi was still grinning like an idiot and Sakura's mouth dropped. Sakura took what Kakashi said and pictured it in her head, '_wow, Kakashi-sensei being chased by obsessing fan girls and the neighbours next-door_,' Sakura shuddered at the thought before something finally clicked in her brain.

"Oh shit, Kitsune," Sakura wailed.

Kakashi's face suddenly changed from his sleazy and perverted grin to shock and a sorrowful, wide-eyed glare, "crap," he muttered. Sakura unclipped her backpack and out leapt a rather annoyed Kitsune.

Kakashi opens his bag and Kuro lunges out from the confined bag and straight onto the bed, groaning irritably. Kakashi stares regretfully at the black fox, "I'm sorry Kuro, just be glad that I let you out eventually," he pleaded for Kuro to accept his apology and move on, but Kuro wasn't going to accept it that easily.

"Please Kuro, I'm sorry," Kakashi tries again and reaches out for the fox to only receive a scratch on his hand, "ow," Kakashi winced, staring blankly at his hand that was slowly starting to bleed from the scratch on his knuckles.

"I guess I probably deserved that," Kakashi scratches the back of his head with an awkward frown.

Sakura just picks up Kitsune and pats her gently, "I'm so sorry Kitsune, I totally forgot about you," she said, frowning sadly at the brown fox before she received a lick on the cheek. Kitsune wasn't angry or upset, she was just happy to see Sakura actually giving her a cuddle. She squirms around in the medic's hands and jumps on the bed, purring loudly with her adorable face.

"Kitsune is so naïve," Kakashi chuckled.

Sakura nodded with a giggle before saying, "yeah, but the 'mission' has only just started so lets just wait and see what becomes of these cute foxes," Kakashi sat in thought as he nodded with agreement before laying back on his bed with a long relieving sigh.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the hotel apartment; Kakashi occupied himself with Icha Icha Paradise, while Sakura played around with both Kitsune and Kuro. Kakashi often glanced from his perverted reading material to what Sakura was up to and chuckled silently from time to time. Sakura was throwing a paper ball around and watched Kuro beat up Kitsune to get the piece of parchment; Sakura just laughed.

The sun had long set at this point, and both Jounins were getting tired from their journey here. Kuro and Kitsune were already sleeping and Sakura was staring at the ceiling, waiting for reality to hit her in the face, "well, I'm going to take a shower," Kakashi broke the long silence and headed for the bathroom.

"Okay…" Sakura replied the second Kakashi was out of earshot and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Sakura sighs heavily at her day, '_man, I know Kakashi-sensei like the back of my hand, but he didn__'__t need to tell me that information; I guess it was just to let me know where he was going so I wouldn__'__t ask questions later_,' she thought, raising an eyebrow.

As the minutes flew, Sakura's eyelids were feeling heavier by the second and decided to rest her head until Kakashi emerged from the bathroom. Her mind fell dark and empty until sleep had totally consumed her, where her dreams would begin to take place.

"_Naruto!" Sakura shouted from the distance._

_Naruto faces Sakura with blood seeping from his mouth and forehead, "this world is filled with hatred and pain," Naruto's voice sounded so familiar to Sakura._

"_You have lived as a Shinobi for seven years yet you still cry at the sight of grievance," there, Sakura knew whose voice it belonged to._

"_You still have this care towards Uzumaki Naruto," Sakura couldn't believe it until he was standing right behind the dying blonde._

"_Sasuke-kun…" Sakura murmured…_

Sakura was practically thrown awake by her will. Her heartbeat ran fast as she ran through her dream over and over, "Sasuke-kun," she mumbled, staring at Kitsune, sleeping like an angel on the end of her bed.

"I wonder if Kakashi-sensei has these kinds of dreams," Sakura wondered, before there was a sudden clicking sound at the bathroom door.

The door opened to let out the stream of fog from the hot water and out stepped a near half-naked Kakashi with a towel wrapped around his neck, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and his mask. Sakura's jaw dropped and didn't know she even did that. Kakashi sighs as he walks to his bed while holding the clothes he wore before.

"What?" Kakashi enquired, raising an eyebrow at the stunned medic.

Sakura's face turned beet red from the sight, '_shit, Kakashi-sensei is hot__…__wait, did I just say that about Kakashi?_' she thought, staring at basically every detail of Kakashi's body; from his wet and silver hair to his well worked abs. Sakura even caught the glimpse of the man's ass.

Sakura was ready to have a nosebleed, but instead, she reverted to harmless insults, "oh god, put a shirt on would you," she spat. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, noticing very well that Sakura was changing to a darker shade of red with every minute he stood there.

"Why? Do you like what you see?" he teased, arching his eyes up to a smile.

Sakura's face turned sour as her eye twitched in embarrassment, but said nothing and looked away. Kakashi just grinned with a light chuckle as he sat down on the bed. Sakura couldn't help but glance at the Jounin on the other bed and stared at the man's bare back. Once Sakura had her attention on Kakashi, she immediately caught the sight of the man's backside again and instantly averted her eyes by looking the other way. Not all this helped Sakura gain anything because of the clear reflection on the window where Sakura could still see what Kakashi was doing. Instead of making her life worse by spying on her former teacher, she stares aimlessly at the ceiling until sleep would once again take over.

During the last few minutes of the evening, Sakura did nothing whilst Kakashi was reading Icha Icha Paradise again, just so he'd keep himself entertained for the meantime. The silence was long and irksome but that didn't help much when Sakura began hearing absurd noises behind the wall where Sakura was leaning against. She hears a loud moan next-door.

"Oh don't tell me…" Sakura hoped she was wrong.

Once again, the pleasurable moans got louder from both people next-door. Sakura was getting very uncomfortable with the noises she was hearing and her face reddened with every sound she heard. Both Sakura and Kakashi stare awkwardly at one another, "well what a night this is, huh?" Kakashi started, trying to get back to his reading in peace.

"Yeah, this couple is sure having fun," Sakura added with a red face.

Suddenly, bonking sounds were heard against the walls that separated Kakashi and Sakura and the loving couple next-door. Kakashi sighs exasperatingly as he tried so hard to read his novel but the noises and moans were getting out of hand and too much for the Jounin, "I think what I'm hearing from the other room is enough for me," he closed his book and tucked it away in his bag.

Kakashi turns off the light and it was completely dark in the room other than the twilight shimmering outside the apartment building, "oh well, goodnight," Kakashi mumbled as he crashed under his sheets and rest his head on the pillow.

Sakura stared at the ceiling for a moment more before finally tucking herself in the bed and snugging into the pillow, "g'night," she slurred under her breath before drifting off to sleep.

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Author's note: Okay people, so far so good? I am slowly going to move to Kakashi's POV, in hopes of a different perspective on the mission, which will happen eventually, so don't worry . I'd once again like to thank everyone for sticking with me and reviewing on the chapters, I love it a lot. I am working my spare time and holiday off to complete the story (I'm up to chapter ten now : D), but I still have a long way to go though.

Me: There, another chapter down

Kakashi: I can't wait until the climax jumps in, it's going to be awesome...I hope

Me: me too...I have everything in little bits and I'm just throwing everything in when it feels right

Sakura: what are you two on about man, you'll do fine in the coming chapters

Me: yeah, I just hope that I haven't lost my spunk 

Kakashi: hey... we don't want to keep the readers waiting any longer

Me: oh yea, gomen. So yea, I hope you liked this chapter, and now for the reviews XD


	6. Chapter 6: A Rocky Start

**Note**: I am liking the reviews here, all positive. Please readers, if there is anything I need to improve on, don't hesitate to let me know, I don't hold grudges, nor do I hate people **Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Naruto... except for Kakashi...he's mine : P

Me: Yes, here we are, chapter six of my mad man story snickers in excitement 

Kakashi: nice disclaimer you put down 

Me: thanks, just making a scene here

Sakura: this next chapter is going to be awesomely funny, I can tell

Me: aww Sakura-chan, don't spoil it for the others points evilly at Sakura 

Sakura: ne, gomen... pouts 

Kakashi: now lets all just calm down and let the readers read the fic already

Me: he's right, enjoy the chapter

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CHAPTER SIX- A ROCKY START

_All Sakura could hear was the sound of a steady heartbeat, which slowly sped up at every pace. As she walked along the pavement of the village, Sakura discovered blood leading to the boy's apartment._

_The sky turned blood red and the sun turned black; everyone was dying in front of her. Naruto was in his three-tail Kyuubi stage, slaughtering anything and anyone who stood in his way._

_The blood ran down walls and was on Sakura's traumatized face, where she would face certain death at the witness of Naruto's current state. She finds him, hammering three people at once into a wall and watching the fresh blood run down his arms from the kill, "Naruto, please stop, I know what you're going through," she yelled, warning Naruto of her capabilities._

_Naruto faces Sakura, his red and cat-like eyes likening that of a monster, which he was slowly turning into. He growled angrily at the medic as he stalked closer to her, "you know nothing about me," there, the clash of both Naruto's voice and Sasuke's voice in the same body, sending chills down the medic's spine._

_Naruto began to scream in pain as he lay on the ground from his sufferings. He stands up with all his strength and held a kunai in his hand, "this is what I feel inside," Naruto ran the knife across his wrists and trailed the blade up his arm and across his bare neck. The blood spilled down the blonde's body but stood as if there wasn't a scratch on him._

_Sakura began to feel the tears well up before screaming her lungs out, "NARUTOOO!"_

With all that shock and disbelief, Sakura forced herself to finally awaken from her nightmare. Tears were streaming down her cheeks although she knew it didn't really happen. She sighs in relief, knowing that it was just a dream, but sensed that something was out of its place.

Sakura scanned the dark apartment room to find that everything seemed normal except for the empty bed on her left. Worried, Sakura wipes the tears from her face and leaves her bed to search for Kakashi.

Standing in the middle of the bedroom, Sakura heard something from within the kitchen. Sakura slowly made her way to the kitchen to find Kakashi sitting at the table with a glass of water in his hands, "Kakashi-sensei?" she wondered, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, I didn't think you'd be awake at this time of the night," Kakashi replied in his lazy tone.

Kakashi was right, Sakura never got out of bed when waking up from a bad dream; she'd normally look around the room before going right back to sleep again, "neither did I, but what are you doing out here this late?" Sakura enquired curiously.

Kakashi sighs, staring at the wooden tabletop, "I couldn't sleep," he stated firmly. Sakura nods before saying, "same here; I had another dream about _him_," Sakura found her seat at the table across from Kakashi and frowned deeply.

"What about you?" Sakura added.

"The same thing; every night I have nightmares about Naruto, and it's been driving me mad," Kakashi answered back miserably.

Kakashi stares at his glass, trying to catch his reflection but due to the darkness of the room, no reflection was caught, "I think what Tsunade-sama is trying to do for us is help us so that we don't turn into cranky and depressed old farts and have fun in our lives, even in the darkest of times," he explained, sighing heavily and staring out the kitchen window.

Sakura rests on her arms, ogling tiredly at the silver haired Jounin before saying, "what do you think it's going to be like after the mission?" surprised, Kakashi was nearly thrown back, "what do you mean?" he started blankly.

"What I mean is, what will happen to us when we get back to Konoha?" Sakura repeated.

Kakashi settled down in thought before coming up with the only thing on his mind, "live the rest of our life normally, but it all depends on what happens during the mission, whether or not we have fun is all on where we end up," he stated.

"But we will try and have fun, right?" Sakura wondered.

Kakashi nods with a sigh, "yeah, lets just hope we can do as much as we can to take our mind off Naruto's passing," Kakashi gets up and stretches his arms, "we'd better get some rest for tomorrow; it's going to be a long day," he suggested as he made his way back to his bed.

Sakura got up to follow him when she had a deep and remorseful thought in her head and stood in the middle of the bedroom, staring pointlessly at the wall of her bed. Once again, Sakura's emotions got the better of her and the tears were beginning to blur her vision.

A snivel from Sakura caught Kakashi's attention, "are you alright, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi gets up from his bed and walks over to Sakura, tilting his head to the side to see what was wrong with Sakura.

"I miss Naruto terribly," Sakura wept as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I miss him too," Kakashi muttered as he brought his arms around Sakura for a hug.

Sakura sobbed uncontrollably while in held Kakashi's arms, "I miss his childish pranks, his ramen obsessions, his blonde moments, I miss everything about him," she wailed, wrapping her arms tightly around Kakashi, her head rested on the man's chest and staring blankly to her left.

Kakashi stayed silent as Sakura cried in his arms, "it's alright Sakura, just try and move on," he muttered softly, patting Sakura on the head childishly. Kakashi lets Sakura go and just grins at her, "Besides, I'm sure whatever happens on the mission would be fun enough to take your mind off Naruto," he hoped that would cheer up the pink haired medic somehow.

"Thank you," Sakura snivelled, drying her tears.

Sakura glances at Kakashi before returning to her bed and hiding under the blankets without waking Kitsune from her peaceful sleep. Kakashi stands there a moment more before making his way to his bed and pats Kuro gently without waking him up. Once under the sheets, Kakashi closes his eyes with one thought on his mind, '_poor Sakura,_'

The light was bright as it beamed through the windows and warmed the blankets of Sakura's bed. The sound of a door shutting was the thing that awoke the pink haired medic.

"Morning sleepy head," a low voice began briefly.

Sakura rubs her eyes and groans in response, "morning," she mumbled as she stretched out her arms to wake up properly. Once Sakura actually opened her eyes suitably, she sees Kakashi wondering into the kitchen, washing something.

She slides out of her bed and pats Kitsune briefly before rushing to the bathroom to shower, "showering, be right back," she said quickly before shutting the door and locking it behind her.

Kakashi turned around with an arched eyebrow and shrugs, "okay…" he muttered, returning his awareness to his washing. He was cleaning a pair of shorts that had a stain on it, so Kakashi had to hand wash it in hopes of removing the dark stain.

Fifteen minutes later, the bathroom door unlocks and out comes Sakura, wrapped in a fluffy white towel with water dripping from her wet pink hair. She skates across the room, making sure Kakashi wouldn't see her and rummages about in her bag to grab some clean clothes.

Kakashi hears the commotion and turns around, only to see Sakura with barely anything on. His face turns red from the sight and immediately looks back to his soaking shorts, hoping Sakura didn't catch him spying on her if he was. Sakura mumbles to herself as she made her way back into the bathroom to change. Kakashi sighs in frustration as he scrubbed deeply to get the filth out.

Five more minutes past and Sakura exited the bathroom while drying her pink hair and sat down on her bed, "so what's going to happen today?" she started with hopes of a happy day, which usually wasn't the case.

"Not sure, but all I know is that we probably won't be able to reach the next village unless we decided to wake up very early this morning, so we have to camp out under the stars tonight," Kakashi explained with a small grin.

Sakura nodded, understanding what the day's plan would be on a rough scale, before something in her head came up, "uhh, Kakashi-sensei, about last night, I-" Sakura was cut off when Kakashi raised his arm with his eyes closed, "don't worry about it Sakura-chan, you just needed to keep yourself calm is all, and I understand perfectly that you just needed someone to cry on," he retorted.

Sakura puts the damp towel down next to her and stares at the floor in front of her feet, "I'm just sorry that I made you feel uncomfortable," she said remorsefully, going back on that moment and fading red.

"Why would I feel uncomfortable about hugging you?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sakura didn't know what to say at first, "well I'm your former student, and it just didn't seem quite right doing what we did, and I don't know what to do," she felt like panicking, until Kakashi just chuckled uncontrollably.

"Sakura-chan, it was just a hug, it's not like it's going to affect us or anything," Kakashi advised, making sure Sakura wouldn't start apologising again.

Sakura sighed to calm herself down and said, "You're right, what is there to worry about," she reaches into her bag and pulls out her hairbrush. She brushes her hair gently, making it silky smooth with all the hair going in one direction: down.

Kakashi stands there, holding his drenched shorts and wrings them out to get most of the water out. He cleans the kitchen tops and walks over to his bag where Kuro was sleeping, patting him momentarily before dropping onto his bed with a blank expression.

Still shirtless, Kakashi rubs the back of his head before sliding his hand over his left eye, touching the scar as if it still hurt. He closes his eyes and thought back to those days when he was still a Chuunin and back to that last moment when his teammate and best friend gave his own life to save Kakashi.

A sigh escapes his lips as he thought about his past, leading quicker than he thought to only a month ago when Naruto died. All he could do was stare at the motionless blonde before only dropping to his knees to help Sakura and aid her to Tsunade to check if there were any injuries on her, but strangely enough, she had none.

"Kakashi-sensei?" the young voice started.

Kakashi blinked a few times before looking to his right, finding Sakura to stare at him strangely, "you looked like you dozed off for a moment there," she said with a slight giggle.

Kakashi couldn't help but notice Sakura's worry about him, right at the point of realising something else, "uhh, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

"Hm?" Sakura had her attention focused on the other Jounin.

"Why do you still refer to me as 'sensei'?" he continued curiously.

Sakura stared for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know, I guess it must be because I've called you that for seven years," she briefed quickly, staring at Kitsune as she finally awoke from such a long night.

Sakura had a point; they knew each other for seven years and from time to time Kakashi still thought of Sakura as the little immature twelve-year-old who thought being a ninja was just a game, but now, Kakashi was seeing the real Sakura he knew, the one who actually grew up.

He sighed deeply, "Well, try and just call me 'Kakashi,'" he stated firmly, hoping Sakura would understand.

"Okay then, Kakashi…" Sakura's words seemed empty, as if something was missing. Perhaps it was the 'sensei' part that Sakura was so use to saying all the time.

Kakashi gets up and puts his shirt on, changing quickly and packing his bag. Sakura did the same, making sure Kitsune had something to eat before she had to be hidden away in the bags again. Kakashi however, was having a real annoying time trying to get Kuro into the bag.

"Kuro please, get into the bag, otherwise we're in big trouble if we get caught," Kakashi pleaded, trying so hard to get Kuro to cooperate, which alas, didn't get anywhere.

Sakura rolls her eyes as she was about to put Kitsune in the bag before coming up with an idea. She pulls Kitsune out of the bag and cuddles her quickly before saying, "Here," Kakashi whirled his head to her with an irritated look in his only visible eye.

"I'll take Kuro, you take Kitsune," she suggested.

Kakashi sat there for a moment, "how will that help?" he asked. Sakura sighed whilst rolling her eyes and took Kuro from him, "you'll be able to handle Kitsune much better than Kuro, and I can keep him under control until we leave this damn building," she explained.

"If you say so," Kakashi sighed, taking Kitsune with great care.

Kitsune purred as Kakashi placed her in the bag, "please keep still until I let you out, okay," he said, hoping Sakura's fox would understand him this time.

With that said, Kitsune nods her cute head with squinted eyes and ducked her head in the bag, waiting for Kakashi to close it. Sakura had Kuro in her arms, trying to calm him down, "it's okay, Kuro, this will only be for a little while," she said softly, patting the black fox gently and whispering calming words to him.

With all the squirming around, Kuro finally ceased and began to purr softly. Sakura grinned and placed him gently into her backpack, closing it slowly to make sure Kuro wouldn't freak out at the sudden darkness.

"Okay, ready?" Kakashi asked, putting on his bag slowly.

Sakura nodded as she did the same, making sure Kuro wouldn't move around so much. Kakashi opens the door and lets Sakura out first. Kakashi looks back into the apartment room in case he might've left something behind and shuts the door, locking it as well.

On their way down the two flights of stairs, Kakashi was staring at Sakura, wondering deeply about her life's issues. Sakura stayed calm but couldn't help feeling Kakashi's glare in her back; it felt kind of awkward, but she chose to ignore it and focus on other things on her mind, like giving that blonde girl a piece of her mind, or fist would be the best choice for her.

Once in the lobby, Kakashi pulled out his wallet and waited for the cheeky blonde girl to check how much they needed to pay, "that will be…35Ryo," she said calmly, waiting for Kakashi to hand her the money.

The blonde haired lady wasn't going to give up that easily, trying to get Kakashi to look at her every time by using her so called 'beauty', but it didn't fool Kakashi. He only smiled at her to show respect and he would be on his way.

Sakura sighed in frustration after watching the blonde curse herself for not being able to win Kakashi's love; though Sakura was glad she and Kakashi were leaving.

As soon as they were outside the building, Sakura opened her backpack and Kakashi opened his, letting out both Kuro and Kitsune simultaneously and leaping to their masters. Kitsune was purring like an engine while moving around on the medic's shoulder. Kuro was just glad to be with Kakashi again, even if he was always being a pain in the ass half the time.

"Kuro was quiet the whole time," Sakura whooped.

Kakashi took Sakura's words as a bad sign, "you sure he wasn't just doing something in your backpack that made him shut up," he warned, patting Kuro quickly.

Sakura shook her head, "no way, I don't think Kuro would be stupid enough to do something like that in my bag, because if he did, then I'm going to be very pissed," she sneered, ogling at the black fox while closing up her bag.

Kakashi took a step back, knowing what she meant by that, "well then, lets carry on with the mission," he mused, nodding his head to the streets and began to walk on. Sakura followed and made sure Kitsune stayed on her head.

The streets were quiet this morning; only a few shops beginning to let the customers in to buy their merchandise. The only other thing that kept the streets alive apart from Kakashi and Sakura were the early children, chasing after each other and enjoying their short lives while it still lasted.

With no time to spend at the village at such time already, Sakura and Kakashi left to carry on to the next village in hopes of something fun and entertaining to do. The road ahead looked the same as the one they went to reach the village behind them but the trees ahead signalled the change in environment.

* * *

**Athor's note**: I'm thinking of changing the second genre from 'suspense' to 'angst', coz there's a lot of it, but you tell me. I am trying to add a bit of fluffy embarrassment between the two, but I'm just trying to think up any kind of odd situation they could get into to make it seem more uhh...actiony...

Me: muahahaha, I made Sakura's dreams sound so bloody and gory and well...you get the picture

Sakura: I think I'm starting to get scared of my dreams now

Kakashi: hahaha points at Sakura 

Me: don't worry Sakura-chan, I said it many more times and I'll say it again, it turns out okay in the end

Kakashi: how would you know that?

Me: well ain't it obvious. And besides, I decide how it ends anyway

Sakura: cool

Kakashi: sorry to keep you holding any longer

Sakura: yeah, hope you liked this chapter

Me: and now for the reviews (my favourite part XD)


	7. Chapter 7: Day Two

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been able to update any sooner; my brother had his birthday and all his friends were over and I wasn't allowed to use the pc, but here I am . Thank you guys so much for sticking with me for so long and thanks again for the reviews, I love you guys a lot XD. Just so you know, I don't own Naruto, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto : D

Me: I'm going to make this a quick chat

Kakashi and Sakura: why?

Me: because I hold up the chapter for the readers

Kakashi: but you talk to us all the time, and the readers are still with you

Me: yeah I know, but I'm pretty sure they get irritated with it

Sakura: at least they get to read your stories

Me: good point, but...wait a minute, I'm talking too much, ugh tugs at hair 

Kakashi: oh well, please read and enjoy

* * *

  
CHAPTER SEVEN: DAY TWO

Sakura was bored as she travelled alongside Kakashi; all she could do was watch no clouds change in the sky, nor watch the shades of blue get brighter as the sun stretched its morning light over the treetops. Kakashi had his worries all taken care of by reading Icha Icha Paradise, glancing to Kuro who was running around in front of him from time to time.

Kakashi looks over at Sakura, who was aimlessly staring at anything that moved abruptly in front of her, mostly Kitsune would get her attention with her hyperactive and playful behaviour.

As the day went by, so did the sun, and the day was getting hotter by the minute and Sakura was beginning to sweat like a pig, '_damn weather, I wish it wasn__'__t so hot today, although it is nice to get out under the sun, it__'__s just getting too hot for my liking_,' Sakura thought, gazing lazily up at the sun as she wiped the sweat from her face. Not only was Sakura worrying about herself, she was wondering how Kakashi was coping with the hot sun on his back all the time.

Kakashi felt sweat run down the side of his face and seeped into his mask. All he could do was read his book that he re-read about fifty times already, but like he had anything else to do; he had to ignore the scorching heat somehow.

'_I wonder how Kakashi is coping with the temperature,_' Inner Sakura said thoughtfully.

Sakura just glared at Kakashi; that mask he was wearing must've drained a lot of his energy. Just looking at Kakashi's mask made Sakura want to rip it off from the man's face, she was sure Kakashi was dying in there, the black mask must've been absorbing so much heat already.

'_Why am I worrying about him all of a sudden?_' Sakura wondered strangely.

Sakura inwardly slapped herself to snap out of it and start worrying about something else for a change, but the problem was, she already did that; this whole time, Sakura had her mind completely away from Naruto's death and the fact that Sasuke could jump out of the bushes at any time, but instead of those physical worries, Sakura was worrying about the person walking just a metre away from her.

She finally decided to do something about the matter, "Kakashi-s…san, isn't it hot wearing that mask out in the blazing heat?" she asked. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the question but knew what she meant. She was right, Kakashi was feeling the heat within the mask and found it hard to breathe cool air properly, "not really," he said, lying but waiting to see if Sakura would fall for it.

Kakashi just stared thoughtfully at Sakura and awaited a reply. Kakashi decides to ignore Sakura from here on and focus on his novel. Sakura sighs as she stared at the dirt road in front of her. She scuffed her feet along the road and kicks a stone into the bushes, making something within the shrubs to move around.

Both Kakashi and Sakura froze, glaring suspiciously at the greens as it moved. Sakura felt nervous to be in this situation again; it usually wasn't such a problem because Sakura always expected it to come, but this time, she forgotten about it.

The bush shakes around and the movements follow along the line of trees with the shrubs and leaf litter at the bottom until it stopped a little further ahead of Sakura and Kakashi, "what is that?" Sakura wondered, ready to pull out a kunai for self-defence.

The undergrowth moved constantly until whatever it was that was causing it finally came out of hiding. It was a huge fox, the colour almost resembled that of dried blood. The dark fox glared at Sakura with its red cat-like eyes and growled. Its tail was very long, almost the length of its body, where the tip of it was white.

"A fox?" Kakashi enquired, lowering his guard and standing normally.

Sakura lowered her arms, though she was ready to toss a kunai at it, she didn't want to harm the animal, unless she really needed to, "I never see foxes out here," Kakashi said suspiciously.

Sakura glanced at Kakashi, wondering what he meant by that, "What are you saying?" she wondered. Kakashi stared at the fox and then back at the pink haired medic, "when I was in ANBU, I use to travel a lot from village to village and I got use to the environment around me and knew each area like the back of my hand, but in all my years as an ANBU member, I have never seen a fox out in the wild, until now," he clarified.

"So you're saying that this fox shouldn't be here," Sakura solicited. Kakashi nodded, "pretty much, yeah," he replied firmly.

Kitsune and Kuro were ogling the other fox and growled back. The bigger fox was ready to attack Kitsune and Kuro, but instead narrowed its vision and glared at Sakura. Kakashi stood there, he knew something wasn't right, but before he could do anything, there was a deep voice, "Team Kakashi," it was the fox.

Both Sakura and Kakashi were very surprised that the fox could speak, "it can talk?" wondered Sakura, ready to scratch her head in confusion.

The large fox growled again before a high-pitched whistle was heard from a distance. At an instant, the red fox reacted to the call and started to make his way into the forest and towards the sound, but before he was out of sight, he said one last thing, "Naruto shiboo," and then he was gone.

Sakura couldn't believe what the fox had just said, and neither did Kakashi, "did that fox just say 'Naruto's death'?" Sakura wondered strangely.

"I think so, yeah," Kakashi replied, blankly staring at where the fox was last standing.

The silver haired Jounin shook his head and started walking, "Sakura-chan, the sooner we reach the next village, the sooner we will be out of harm's way," he warned, glancing down at Kuro, who looked scared. Kakashi rolled his eyes and patted the black fox on the head, "don't worry Kuro, we'll be okay," he promised, picking Kuro up and putting him on his left shoulder to rest on.

Sakura stared blankly until Kitsune gave her a nudge. Sakura looks down at the brown fox and grinned briefly before picking her up and saying, "It's alright Kitsune, I'm fine," she pats Kitsune gently, making her purr loudly and climbed up onto the medic's shoulder.

The rest of the day went slow as usual, Sakura was worried again and thought about Naruto's death for the nth time, '_what is wrong with me_,' she blamed herself for everything about Naruto's passing and only wished to do something about it to prevent Naruto from dying, but it was all too late.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan," Kakashi asked, shifting his gaze from his orange book to the medic on his right.

Sakura nodded quickly, saying, "Yeah, I'm just thinking of something is all," Kakashi bobbed his head slowly, trying to figure out what Sakura was truly thinking.

Kakashi sighed as he flipped the pages of his dirty book and gazed up at the sky to find a cloud, changing its shape as the wind pushed it along the sky. All this made Kakashi lose track of time and the day had gone by quicker in the afternoon.

Sakura stretched out her arms and yawned, "What time is it?" she asked. Kakashi looks up at the sky to find the sun about to set in a few hours, "late; we won't be able to make it to the next village today unless we travel through the night, but since that you look tired and my legs are about to drop any second now, I guess we have to camp under the stars tonight," he said, closing his book and putting it away.

Sakura sighed tiredly before Kakashi began to walk off the road and into the thin forest, "we'll camp here for the night," he stated, putting his bag down on a patch of grass.

Sakura put her backpack down and looked down the area where they were camping and discovered a river. Sakura stared at the water and then at the state of herself; she had an idea. Kakashi began to set up camp and collected some firewood. He placed the sticks on the ground and away from the trees so he wouldn't catch them on fire by accident.

Kakashi laid out his sleeping bag and everything else that was needed for tonight. Sakura on the other hand did lay down her sleeping bag and everything else but pulled out a towel and swimming gear.

Yes, Sakura was going swimming and she came prepared. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he tried to figure out what Sakura was going to do. Sakura looked over at the other Jounin and grinned, "you coming?" she asked, trying to cheer up about her doubts and have fun.

"To where?" Kakashi dumbly asked.

Sakura rolls her eyes and says, "do you remember what Tsunade told us about having as much fun as possible? I'm going for a swim and I advise you to do the same," she stared sympathetically at the silver haired Jounin and waited for his answer.

Kakashi felt the suspicion sink into his skin as Sakura glared a keen eye at him. Of course Sakura was a tolerant woman and hated it when she didn't have her way, but when she lost, she seemed to adapt to the loss of the battle.

"What's the catch?" Kakashi stood there, leaning to one side and slightly tilting his head back, meaning his expression of thought.

Sakura crossed her arms, holding her things in one hand at the same time, "no catch, just a simple favour that is to you," she raised her eyebrows, waiting unwearyingly for the lazy Copy Nin to comply.

Kakashi leaned further to the side, past Sakura and at the river behind her, "but I have nothing to swim in," he protested. Of all the things that could've happened, he had to have brought nothing to swim in; obviously Kakashi wasn't prepared.

Though Sakura suspected as such, she turned her back to Kakashi and began to walk off, "just toss on a pair of shorts, it's not like anyone will know the difference," she hollered.

With that said, Kakashi sighed in his defeat and played along. He stealthily changed into his shorts, but keeping the mask. Not only did _he_ do it in a ninja style, Sakura had to change fast before Kakashi would creep around the corner and find her not dressed yet. Oh how embarrassing that would be; caught changing by the famous and perverted Hatake Kakashi.

Sakura thought about that, '_if that does happen Sakura, castration should do the trick_,' Inner Sakura suggested. Sakura grinned like an idiot at that thought and realised she was dressed for the water.

Sakura peeked around the tree to find Kakashi not there. Now was the chance for Sakura to hit the water without making a scene and only amusing Kakashi more with her silly and childish behaviour.

'_Time to shine__'_

Sakura dashed quickly. With all the clothes off her back, she felt lighter and much faster; almost feeling completely naked. Sakura had the right thought; wearing nothing but a bikini certainly made whoever wearing it feel like they weren't wearing anything at all. Perhaps that's why all those rich and skanky skinny girls wear them.

The breeze Sakura felt on her bare skin was only brief until she hit the cool water. Sakura surfaced from the dip in the water and sighed.

"Finally a mission where I can relax," Sakura tilted her head back so her hair would soak up the water and make herself a little more presentable.

Now Sakura was getting curious, '_where is Kakashi-sensei?_'

The last time Sakura saw Kakashi was only moments ago when she told him to put on some shorts to swim in. Now where did he run off to? Sakura sighed again before hearing a light cough from on the shore.

Kakashi sat under a tree with nothing but his shorts and mask on, looking a little peaky. He had a towel slung around his neck and was reading that wretched orange book again, and even on a moment like this.

Sakura should've seen this coming, "well then…hurry up,"

Kakashi didn't answer, but instead he just closed his book and stared at the cover.

"Bomb the water or something," Sakura suggested.

Kakashi's eye twinkled in thought and glanced at the swimming medic in the river, "you sure?" he asked, making sure Sakura knew what she was saying. And of course, Sakura nodded, "yeah, hurry up already,"

Impatient as she was, Sakura swam backwards, preparing a few waves from the weight Kakashi would produce, if he would actually do it. Kakashi placed his book down, along with his towel.

Kakashi stared at the water for a minute or so before running to the edge as if something were about to bite him on the ass. He seemed determined at first, and so did Sakura. She appeared glad to finally get Kakashi off his rear and do something for a change.

Speeding for the jump, Kakashi was so close to leaping for the dive. Sakura was sure he would do it. Right at the point of the launch, Kakashi slowed down immediately and turned around, walking away and grinning widely.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura fumed.

With no reply, Sakura gave up on the Jounin's attempts of having fun. She began cursing herself for ever trying.

With nothing more to do, Sakura decided to make her way to shore and get out before she heard faint stomps on the grass. Curious to know, Sakura perked her head up to find Kakashi running for it at his own will.

Sakura went further away from the riverbank and hoped Kakashi wouldn't land on her, although doing that would certainly give Sakura something to talk about for a while.

Now or never, Kakashi shined an expression of seriousness in his mismatched eyes. Sakura knew now he would definitely jump this time.

It felt like the running was going forever, but eventually Kakashi was right on the verge of jumping. Using his ninja skills, Kakashi leaps high into the air. Time seemed to slow down when Kakashi was in the middle of his jump.

Just before hitting the water, Kakashi tucks in his legs and smiled brightly as he plunged into the river below. The landing was actually pretty close to where Sakura was at the time. She knew Kakashi would come up at any second now and dove under.

The water was very clear and the sun was still at the water's reach to give Sakura some light to see where she was going. Right now, Sakura could see everything. She held her breath for as long as her lungs would allow.

Still underwater, Sakura found Kakashi, waving like he hadn't seen Sakura for years. Sakura rolled her eyes before lack of oxygen took over. She quickly swam up for air.

She swung her pink hair up until it hit the back of her neck, spitting water all around her. Kakashi emerged from the clear water and shook his head violently, making the water droplets fly everywhere and hit Sakura in the eye.

"Sorry about that. For a moment there I thought you lost faith in me," Kakashi ran his hands through his wet and silver hair and floated on the surface playfully.

Sakura had to admit, Kakashi was quite interesting when he was enjoying the activities that he received, "sorry I misjudged you as a lazy bum who wouldn't do anything for fun," she sneered with a mocking glare.

Kakashi stared blankly, "hey, I'm not lazy, and I _am_ fun," he protested with a cheeky smile.

"Then prove it," Sakura implored with slight delight.

Kakashi stared in thought and winked with a cheery grin before splashing a heap of water at Sakura, showing his humorous side. Kakashi didn't really think this through, whether or not Sakura would be glad that Kakashi was finally doing something fun or get angry and yell at the poor Copy Nin.

Instead of getting annoyed with Kakashi's playful manner, she played along, splashing water back at him. The two Jounins played in the water like little children; Sakura hadn't had this much fun since Naruto pranked Jiraiya with his silly tricks and jokes.

Kakashi kind of felt new to this but acted like he had done it a thousand times before. For the great Hatake Kakashi who avoided any such emotion or exploit of fun, he was a natural.

It actually felt nice for Sakura to see her former sensei's other side, where the rules didn't count and only the amusement got better. Sakura splashed as much water at Kakashi that her arms could muster but Kakashi had the upper hand with his strength and was able to blind Sakura momentarily.

Sakura averted her eyes from the contact of water by turning her back on the Jounin. She rubbed her eyes from all the water and turned around to find Kakashi not there anymore. In a matter of fact, Kakashi wasn't anywhere to be found at all.

A bit curious, Sakura swam around to see if she could spot the silver haired Jounin, but there was no luck. Now the fun was over for Sakura, "wuss," she smirked at the water around her before she felt something grab her from behind.

It was obvious to know who it was when Sakura was being lifted out of the water. Sakura felt her waist being grabbed as she got higher out of the water. She felt her spine tingle at the touch, though it wasn't a bad feeling, it actually felt nice.

Now Sakura was right above the water except for her knees. Kakashi had Sakura sit on his shoulders while he was grinning like an idiot.

"A wuss aye?" Kakashi started, trying to look up at the medic, who he just couldn't see properly.

Sakura felt a small breeze from the wind as the sun began to set behind the hills and trees. Still sitting there, Sakura wanted to grab onto something due to the unbalanced feeling she was getting whenever Kakashi were to even move an inch, but Kakashi held her in place. His hand was on Sakura's leg, just above the knee so she wouldn't fall over.

Sakura leaned forward to look at the expression on Kakashi's hidden face, "you do realise how awkward this is, right?" she noted, staring at the large hand on her thigh.

Kakashi's grin faded to an discomfited chuckle, "well to be honest, not really," he muttered nervously.

Sakura was surprised at the Jounin's answer, but Kakashi was right, it didn't feel so awkward anymore. Sakura felt anxious at first but right after things settled down, all those worries went out the window.

She could see that Kakashi's face was turning a light shade of pink at the look he received from the medic. Sakura was starting to shiver a little the longer she was on Kakashi's shoulders.

"Kakashi-san?" Sakura started.

"Hm?"

"Can you put me down now, it's getting a bit chilly up here," Sakura asked sweetly.

It took a while for Kakashi to get the message, until he felt Sakura shiver on his shoulders, "oh, sorry," he said finally. Usually at this point, Kakashi would just lean back and let Sakura fall, but that would ruin the moment.

With all the respect Kakashi had along with common sense, Kakashi lifted Sakura firmly but tenderly, slowly allowing her to drop back in the water behind him. Sakura always got nervous when she was in high places and usually would grab onto the first thing in her reach, which in this case was Kakashi's shoulders.

Kakashi flinched briefly as Sakura slid down into the water, brushing her body against his back. Sakura held tightly on Kakashi's arms before knowing she was at a reasonable height to finally let go.

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Author's note: Sorry about the random fluffy bit, I didn't really know what else to throw on there, but I just hope this will do. If you want to say anything about my chats with Kakashi and Sakura, please let me know if you think it's a waste of time, I'll get rid of the chatty bits before and after the chapter if you guys wish, so give me a shout. These chapters on this site are catching up to the amount that I'm up to (Chapter Ten) and I'm only just half way through that one, but just as long as you guys enjoy what I'm dishing out that's good.

Me: whew, man, I'm on a role folds arms 

Kakashi: but you're doing great and the review count now is 14, that's almost your age : P

Sakura: Kakashi has a point, just keep it cool and you'll be okay

Me: aw thanks guys

Kakashi: yeah, just keep the ideas flowing like they always do

Sakura: enough chatting here, hope you enjoyed reading, now reviews please


	8. Chapter 8: Under The Evening Stars

**Note**: Yeah, about Chapter Seven when the red fox comes in; I just thought that up as I went (just like almost everything else I've written), the red fox will make sense later, and so will everything else. These sort of things is a technique I call the 'Swiss Cheese Effect', because the longer you leave it out, the better it gets at the end; it's the whole suspense thing. The technique sounds crazy I know, but it makes sense. I am now going to drop the chats, so I don't waste your guys' time, so enjoy the chapter. Chapter Eight! Yeah!

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**CHAPTER EIGHT: UNDER THE EVENING STARS

Sakura swam backwards, away from Kakashi and dove under, feeling a strange surge bubbling up inside. All those feelings brought Sakura back to when she and Naruto went swimming together. Of course this was only a one time thing. Sakura was deep in thought whilst holding her breath:

"_Please Sakura-chan?" Naruto begged._

_Sakura stared at the blonde and said it again, "no, I'm too busy today," she stacked clipboards and piled them in the filing room where all hospital records were kept._

_Naruto followed the medic wherever she went. He still wouldn't give up, "but you're always so busy, it's not fair; I think you need to take a break from work for a change," he protested in hopes for Sakura to comply._

"_I have too many things to do right now Naruto, I'm sorry," Sakura tried, but Naruto still wouldn't let it go._

_He stifled, sighing deeply and finally giving up hope, "oh no, who will I invite to go swimming with me now," he said aloud, making sure Sakura would hear him._

"_I was going to buy that special person ice cream right after, but noooo, she has to be little miss sunshine and finish her work," Naruto gloated, trying to make Sakura feel bad._

_Sakura sighed, stopping what she was doing and facing Naruto, "fine then," she gave in, though not really interested for the swim._

"_Yes, awesome," Naruto whooped in utter joy and jumped around in excitement._

"_Naruto, I have nothing to swim in though," Sakura ended Naruto's leap of joy with a poke in the arm._

_Naruto grinned, rubbing his poked arm tensely, "that's okay, I'll help you get one," he squinted his foxy smile widely at Sakura._

Sakura grinned lightly at her past before swimming back up for air.

Thinking again, Sakura drifted there on the water's surface, blankly going back through her memories:

"_Hurry up Sakura-chan," Naruto wailed while splashing about in the water._

_Sakura was hesitant at first and finally showed up, "does it look okay on me?" she asked, blushing intently as she skipped her way to the river._

"_Are you serious, woman? You look good in that bikini," Naruto said, not caring how loud he sounded._

_Sakura's blush reddened further as she dove into the water. She dipped her hair in the water, making it look more presentable and said, "well, thanks for buying it for me Naruto, I really appreciate it,"_

_Naruto shrugged, "don't worry, it's the least I can do for my best friend," he smiled happily before going under water again._

'_Best friend__…_' Sakura thought as she had her face half in the water and deep in her thoughts.

After that swim with Naruto that day, Sakura actually enjoyed herself, although she didn't want to admit it to the blonde. The way she expressed it that afternoon was "a decent swim" along with a cheesy smile. Even that gave Naruto the great intention on giving the pink haired medic a bone-crushing hug and a 'thank you'.

"Sakura-chan?" the silence was finally broken.

Sakura felt a frown curving on her face as she thought about what she said to Naruto that day. It was more of a spur of the moment thing at that point, and now Sakura only wished she could've said something better than her previous words.

A hand grabbed her arm. Turning to see who it was, it was Kakashi, looking rather worried about his former student, "are you okay?" he enquired.

"Yeah, just thinking of something," Sakura replied.

Sakura felt like a broken CD player whenever Kakashi asked that question, she always replied with the same answer, and it was beginning to get annoying.

"We'd better get back, Kuro and Kitsune might be hungry," Kakashi recommended, still holding onto Sakura's arm without realising it himself.

Sakura stared at the hand that held her arm and held her breath for no apparent reason. She felt the hand move down slowly, making her skin crawl; though it felt strangely pleasant.

Sakura made her way past Kakashi and on the riverbank, sighing deeply as her thoughts slowly took over. She shakes the nasty images out of her head and gets out of the water, quickly finding her towel to avoid getting cold.

Kakashi just climbed onto the shore and walked past Sakura with a tired grin on his face. Yes, Kakashi was happy with how he ended the day. He quickly made the fire and warmed up in front of it, staring at the flames as they danced around through its burning colours.

Sakura collected her things and changed into her dry clothes. Before returning to hang up her wet clothes around the campfire, she spotted Kakashi's Icha Icha book just lying there under a tree.

She takes the orange book and stared at the cover, but before she went back to hand the book to Kakashi, a picture slipped out of the pages within. Sakura quickly picks up the photo, glancing at Kakashi, who was gazing at the fire.

Sakura examined the photo; it was of Kakashi when he was young, and he was with his old team. Sakura already knew that Kakashi was taught by the famous Fourth Hokage, she basically knew all the names of Kakashi's team.

When staring at the image with Kakashi smiling, it made Sakura warm inside because she knew Kakashi had friends in his life before becoming who he was now. Still, Sakura felt sorry for the Jounin that he lost all those friends in his life while on the road to becoming a great ninja.

'_Kakashi__…_' Sakura slides the picture back in the orange book and made her way to Kakashi's side.

With all her wet clothes around one arm, Sakura noticed Kakashi was shivering. That fool; Kakashi was wearing nothing but his swimming shorts and his mask and the sun had already hidden itself away behind the horizon. He was shivering like a wet puppy.

Sakura sighed inwardly before taking her towel and draping it over Kakashi's shoulders, patting him on the back slightly.

Kakashi flinched. He looks over his shoulder to find Sakura smiling at him while holding out his orange novel, "oh, thanks; I thought I left something behind," Kakashi gladly took the book and tugged at the towel Sakura let him use.

"Thanks for the towel," he said with much gratitude.

"Don't worry, you looked a little cold and you were shivering, so I thought I'd do a favour since you always help me out," Sakura smiled.

Kakashi stared intently at the campfire before Sakura's words finally kicked in, "since when did I ever help you out," he wondered. Thought it sounded harsh at first, Sakura had to answer his question.

"When I was still a Genin, you always were the one to protect me, even if I tried to fend for myself; I was always the one behind everyone," Sakura's voice sounded hesitant; she didn't want Kakashi to take her words in a different way that would hurt him.

Kakashi sat there in silence for a while before facing the pink haired medic, "so basically, you felt yourself as a burden in the team because we always protected you," he stated, looking back out in front of him.

Sakura nodded, shaking her wet clothes to drain some of the water. Kakashi finally gets up and heads over to his bag. He grabs some clean clothes and pulls out a kunai and a string.

Kakashi ties the string on the branch not far from the camp and tossed the kunai at another tree. Kakashi pulled the string along and threaded it through the loop hole of the kunai, tying it down tightly.

"Sakura-chan, just be glad that you have someone who's by your side to protect you at any cost," he said with a hidden grin.

Kakashi went behind the trees to change and reappeared in a navy blue singlet and long black pants shortly after. He hung his wet shorts over the line to let it dry off. He stared at his clothes blankly before noticing that the mask he was still wearing was still wet.

He glanced at the medic while grabbing his spare mask from his backpack, keeping an eye on her so that she wouldn't spy on him, "do you want me to hang your clothes as well?" he asked suggestively. Sakura stared for a moment before saying, "umm, sure, thanks," she handed Kakashi her wet clothes and he hung them on the line next to his.

Kakashi had his back facing Sakura and pulled off his mask, hanging it next to his shorts. Sakura immediately witnessed the man's actions and ogled him, hoping to get some luck in seeing the Jounin's face.

Kakashi knew Sakura was staring, he could feel the medic's eyes bore into his back, making him feel slightly uncomfortable, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it. Kakashi purposely rubbed his face, trailing it to the back of his neck, making Sakura more tempted to run out in front of him to catch a glimpse of the Jounin's true identity.

"It was a good swim," Kakashi said out of the blue.

Sakura jerked her head up, knowing Kakashi was changing the subject, "yeah it was," she sighed, stretching out her arms. Kakashi put on his clean mask and faced Sakura, smirking a little.

The sun had long set and the campfire was burning brightly, heating the air around it and giving off its light. Sakura stared aimlessly at the fire as it danced on the collectives of wood. She stayed nicely tucked in her sleeping bag, while Kakashi was under the layers of his sleeping bag and reading his dirty book.

All was silent between them and Sakura was nearly falling asleep; Kitsune and Kuro had already fallen asleep so why didn't she? Something about Sakura kept her awake, thinking constantly about her worries and other things she expected in life.

Half the time, Sakura was staring at Kakashi; having nothing better to do, Sakura just watched Kakashi read his book. Kakashi could feel Sakura glare at him; it made him feel slightly insecure about his personal space, but he chose to ignore them wisely.

Sakura stared at the man a while more before finally trying to do something else, but what? She lay down on her back, arms cushioning her head as she gazed at the stars. What a sight that was. Back in Konoha, Sakura never had time to look up at the night sky; it sure was amazing to see how many stars were up in the blanket of darkness.

Sakura grinned to herself, looking down at Kitsune, who was sleeping by her bag. Sakura gazed back up at the sky and connected the stars, making funny constellations with her imagination. She found one in the shape of a dog sitting on its hind legs, begging for a treat. She found another one in the shape of a love heart; making her smile softly. Of all things Sakura could've found up there, she spots a cluster of stars in the shape of the Leaf symbol.

Looking around, Sakura found many more shapes and silhouettes of animals and people and other objects, "beautiful isn't it?" Kakashi said in a sigh, eyes still on the book.

"Yeah, it sure is," Sakura replied, not making any eye contact with the other Jounin on the other side of the fire.

Kakashi peeled his eyes off the text of his book and glanced at Sakura, '_what is she thinking about?_' he thought, his lazy eye getting heavy from the day's progress.

"Do you ever get time to look up at the stars at night?" Sakura wondered, tilting her head slightly.

"Whenever I get the chance I look up there and think about things," Kakashi sighed, looking up and closing his book.

Sakura thought about what Kakashi would think about at those moments and contemplated if they would be personal or not. She asked anyway, "what sort of things do you ponder over?"

Kakashi sighed, sitting up a bit to get a better view of the stars, and said, "mostly about all the close people who have passed away in my time, but other times I think about what lies ahead in the future," he looks at Sakura from across the fire, "what about you?" he asked.

Sakura looked puzzled at first, "I usually don't have the time to gaze up at the stars like this, but when I get the chance, I try and picture out funny constellations with my imagination," she smirked at the thought of something really stupid that it probably would be too embarrassing to tell.

Kakashi chuckled, "I do that on occasions, but I don't always see any good images, because of my one eye," he said before frowning, staring at the fire before getting out of the sleeping bag.

"Just going to get some more firewood," he mentioned, walking off into the forest.

Sakura hummed a little tune that caught up in her head, lingering around like a bad odour, as she hummed a bit louder, knowing that Kakashi was well out of earshot to hear her signing.

Meanwhile, Kakashi walked around past the trees, collecting fallen sticks and branches. He stopped in the middle of it and felt nasty images brewing up in his head. Kakashi's skin crawled at his thoughts and bonked his head on a tree, only softly enough to stop him from imagining rude thoughts.

'_Come on Kakashi, pull it together, how could you possibly have thought that up within two minutes; it__'__s even more intense than Icha Icha Paradise_,' Kakashi argued to himself through thoughts as he traced himself back to the small camp.

Kakashi felt the need to speak to his devil and angel self; where the devil Kakashi would tell him to follow his judgments and the angel Kakashi would tell him to keep his opinions and uncouth ideas to himself. He could see it now; on one shoulder would be a miniature Kakashi dressed up in red tights and holding a pitch fork and have little red horns and a pointy tail. And on the other shoulder would be his mini self wearing a white dress with a halo and wings and holding a harp.

Each would argue amongst each other in order for the one who needed the advice to follow whose ideas. In the end, one guardian conscious would stand after a fight and the real person would have to give a beating to both little characters.

With all the thinking, Kakashi had almost forgotten what he went out for in the first place. Quickly, Kakashi carried the dead wood back to camp and lay it down next to the fire.

He prods the flames with a long stick and tosses a branch on to keep the fire going. He sighs, glancing over at Kuro, who was sleeping like a baby by his sleeping bag. Kakashi grins and pats the black fox gently.

Now bored, Kakashi focuses his attention to Sakura in hopes of a good conversation, but to only find the medic sound asleep. He smiles softly with a humming chortle; just staring at Sakura for as long as he felt like without the medic knowing.

Sakura looked so peaceful as she slept; just lying there with such a calm face as if all her worries were lifted off her. Kakashi sat back down, still ogling the pink haired medic as he opened his orange book.

The night was so quiet and peaceful; the only thing disturbing the full silence were the crickets and the water trickling down the river. On occasion, the odd owl could be heard, hooting and calling for the others. Not only that, but the man made sound of a page flipping from the perverted series of Icha Icha Paradise.

This must've been the tenth time Kakashi had read that book. At this point, Kakashi could literally act out every scene and know every word off by heart. The book still didn't bore him to death; it was like reading a totally different book each time.

Another page flipped, Kakashi was almost half way through the book, '_What time is it now? God knows,_' like it really mattered to Kakashi to know what time it was. It was the only good time he could catch up with his reading in peace and serenity.

'_And when he finally reached the end of the street, the bus began to depart the station, seeing only love of his life on it, staring endlessly at him until she could no longer be seen__…_' Kakashi read out the lines in his head as he stared at the text, before he heard disturbed mumbling and moaning on the other side of the fire. Kakashi watched Sakura toss over to her back and squint her eyes like she was fighting from something.

When Sakura had finally calmed down and was sleeping normally again, Kakashi sighed, looking up at the sky, noting that it had moved over the many hours he was awake for.

After all that calmness and alone time, the silence was abruptly disturbed when Sakura woke up crying stridently and breathing heavily as she sat up staring at her covered feet in awe. Kakashi straight away put his book down and walked over to the sobbing medic, "Sakura-chan," he started steadily.

Kakashi placed his hand on the girl's back and rubbed it gently, reaching for his bag and pulling out his bottle of water, "here, drink something," he insisted, allowing the medic to take his bottle and sculling it down.

Sakura tiredly closed the bottle while still catching her breath and rested her head on her palm, "bloody nightmares," Sakura stammered, wiping the tears away. Kakashi still had his hand on Sakura's back, making sure Sakura wouldn't start to freak out and start crying again.

Staring blankly at the ground in front of her, Sakura felt the sleepiness kicking in and absentmindedly leaned against Kakashi's chest, still sobbing. Kakashi stared blankly at the tired medic, holding her with one arm and trying to keep her calm and still for as long as he could.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked, cocking his head to the side to not find Sakura's terrorised face, but her actually fallen back asleep; face calm and normal.

Kakashi sat there with Sakura in his arms, sleeping like a baby and actually looking like she wasn't harmed at all. The thoughts began to race around in his head again, slowly taking advantage of his actions. He stared deeply into Sakura's closed eyes and with one hand, Kakashi gently moved the medic's pink locks to side and gazed at her snoozing face.

He just wanted to kiss her.

Wait a minute. Did Kakashi just think that? Slap his hand as punishment. How could Kakashi think that about his former student and take advantage of such a moment and even a sweet innocent Kunoichi. Maybe perhaps not so sweet, but she did have the personality of a blossom.

But who could blame the man. Sakura was beautiful and even to many other male ninja, she was described as 'feisty' and 'gorgeous', which was exactly how Kakashi was thinking of her, just without the 'feisty' part.

Maybe Kakashi was starting to have feelings for the medic, even though he knew how long their age difference was. Kakashi shook his head vigorously to refrain thinking of said things before. He gently put Sakura down, making sure her sleeping bag covered the most of her body to allow her to sleep warmly.

Kakashi returned to his sleeping bag, patting Kuro once more before settling down and letting sleep take over his body for the rest of the night.

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**Author's note**: All I have to say about the last part of the chapter was "Awwwww," seriously, this is where the fluffiness starts. It will continue, and there is still a long way to go for Sakura and Kakashi. What will happen next? Find out in the next chapter: Chapter Nine: Wandering Into Mysteries. Before I disappear to carry on with my other chapters, I'd like to thank **ifItwasnt4KakashiIwouldLoveYou**, **CherryKittyKat** and **WhiteTiger1992** for sticking with me so far and reviewing all the time; love you guys heaps XD thanks 


	9. Chapter 9: Wandering Into Mysteries

Woohoo. Chapter Nine. We are definately moving up in the world. I can tell a LOT of you guys are keeping up and getting all the info in , I love it. I am currently on chapter twelve and I'm zooming through with ease (maybe not completely easy). Once again as I have said in the other chapters, I do not own Naruto or the other characters; except for Kakashi, who is currently tied up in my room : P. I might be exadurating a little bit, but I'm just making this fic grasp out to my favourite readers . But enough of my wasting, time to shine and let the readers do their thang...enjoy

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CHAPTER NINE: WANDERING INTO MYSTERIES

Sakura woke up with a comfortable feeling. Her morning sigh she longingly waited for finally escaped her lips. She didn't move, she only stared at the light blue sky, hearing the sounds of bugs humming around her.

Sakura hummed something no one around her could understand or hear, but whatever it was is was a sign of a pleasant awakening. She turned her head to the right to find the fire out and the sleeping bag across from that said to be empty.

She didn't want to move around that much in her comfortable position, although she had been sleeping on the hard ground. It almost felt like someone came down onto Earth and blessed her with a peaceful sleep for once in her life, which sort of did happen. And to make things even more outlandish, Sakura could barely remember when she woke up crying only hours ago and fall back asleep in Kakashi's arms.

Sakura looked around from as far as her situation would allow; it was definitely early in the morning, where the mist had softened everything in sight. Suddenly, something clicked.

'_What happened last night?_' she thought, only vaguely remembering fades of her abrupt wake up call.

Sakura sat up, rubbing her eyes and stretching her limbs out before realising the unfamiliar drink bottle leaning on her covered leg. Now she remembered. That Kakashi; so happened to be there when she woke up screaming. And to make that even more to a sour thought; Sakura was too sluggish to notice Kakashi trying to help her that sleep eventually took over within seconds.

Kitsune and Kuro were already playing within the trees around the camp, noting that they got up earlier than expected. Sakura was beginning to wonder where Kakashi was and thought that he might've ran off somewhere by himself, fending off a huge monster to protect the helpless medic.

Yeah, Haruno Sakura, a professional medic of the Leaf, couldn't fend for herself. Sakura was a powerful Kunoichi, bad tempered like her superior and had a reputation to prove it. She was known to knock out patients through her strikes of anger rather than using anaesthetic and they all turned out the same in the end.

Sakura yawned loudly, keeping her psyched that Kakashi could be anywhere, spying on her. With that in mind, Sakura slides out of her sleeping bag and stared at the dead fire, where the charcoal was left to sizzle in reaction with the morning fog.

She walked around aimlessly, exercising her legs to feel more energised. Striding lazily towards the riverbank, Sakura caught something in the corner of her eye. The pink haired medic focused her attention to the object at her line of sight to only find Kakashi perched up against the tree, sleeping so peacefully.

Sakura sighed, glad it wasn't something else that could've been sitting there. The medic bent down on her knees and watched Kakashi sleep. The Jounin lay there, nicely tucked under the tree, arms folded over his chest while holding his precious book. It mildly amused Sakura to just stare at someone who didn't notice.

But all was spoken too soon, "having fun?" Kakashi hummed, opening one eye and staring lazily at the medic before him.

Startled at the sudden movements, Sakura didn't know what to say, "sorry, I just couldn't help but notice how peaceful you looked," she muttered, her face changing colours rapidly to a shade of dark pink.

"Hm," Kakashi sighed, leaning forward and broadening his arms out, "but anyway, morning," he added with a mused grin on his hidden face.

Sakura stood up, wondering what kind of day it would be today. Kakashi just closed his orange book and sat up, rubbing his scarred eye, "so did you sleep better?" the unorthodox question buzzed around in Sakura's skull, trying to revert to her memories taken place only several hours ago.

"I guess so, yeah," Sakura felt suspicious, staring strangely at the Jounin.

Kakashi nodded, threading his fingers through his mane of silver hair, still messy and lopsided as always, "okay, we'll spend about half an hour to get ready and eat something before we head off to the next village," he said, mentally noting down everything on his 'to do' list.

Sakura bobbed her head, walking back to the camp spot and began to tidy up her area. Kakashi rubbed his arms wearingly, still trying to wake up properly. He glanced down at his feet where the grass thread between his toes, deep in thought again.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started.

"Hm?"

"Do you know anything about the next village that we're going to?" the medic asked, rolling up her sleeping bag and stuffing it in her backpack.

Kakashi stood, deeming what he could remember after so many years as a ninja, "uhh, not that I can recall, but I do remember one thing about that place," Kakashi paused, not sure whether or not he should tell Sakura about his assumptions.

Sakura packed other things away in her bag, glancing at the silver haired Jounin every second, before saying, "well, what was it?" Kakashi shrugged at his own thoughts, knowing that Sakura wanted to know.

"It's about a mysterious forest not too far from the village," he announced, eyebrows jerking up in ambiguity, grinning lightly.

Sakura paused in her actions as she slowly reached in her bag to feed Kitsune her breakfast and trying to listen to Kakashi's lovely bedtime story.

"It was told that once you enter the forest, the chances of getting out is very slim because of the changing scenario," Kakashi glared seriously at the medic and said, "they say that the forest has a special jutsu cast on it, making each section of the forest change so that no one will get out without going completely insane,"

Sakura gaped at the Jounin, unconvinced, "so you're saying that there's a cursed forest in a village that has people disappearing in it because of the jutsu?" she summarised the entire explanation. Kakashi tilted his head to the side in thought before saying, "well that's what I've heard,"

It was settled then. Sakura was now having second thoughts about going to a village with a haunted forest, all thanks to Kakashi. Sakura sighed deeply as she patted Kitsune and fed her the cat biscuits.

Kuro joined in the food and nibbled away what was supposed to be Kitsune's breakfast. At an instant, Kuro received a thwack on the head by the brown fox and retreated to Kakashi's side, staring oddly at Kitsune.

"It looks like Kuro is now afraid of Kitsune," Kakashi chuckled, kneeling down and scratching the black fox under the ear, making Kuro purr and swish his fluffy tail around.

"I guess it's just a female's instinct to eat her food without the males annoying her," Sakura stuck out her tongue at the Jounin and giggled.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, wanting to stick out his tongue but due to his mask, Kakashi would have a good lick of his own mask, along with the embarrassment he would get from a particular Kunoichi.

Once Kitsune was done eating, she skipped off happily with Kuro right behind her to muck around before the two Jounins would carry on with the mission.

The preparations went smoothly as Sakura and Kakashi packed their things away. Before the two would head out across the bridge and to the next village, Kakashi destroyed all evidence of them every existing in that area and continued on their mission.

Within an hour, Sakura and Kakashi had made it to the village Kakashi was talking about, "here we are," Kakashi briefed, putting his book away in his kunai pouch and staring at the main gate.

Sakura felt unsure of going into a haunted village with a haunted forest and with probably haunted people ready to welcome happily before eating your head. Yes, Sakura expected the worst of this village from the childish story Kakashi told her, but she decided to hide her fears through a nod and patting Kitsune, who was once again perched up on her shoulder.

The village sign was old and discarded bits of such mentioned were scattered on the ground and there was the odd hobo sitting against the gateway, almost the state of being dead. This truly was a welcoming wagon, "well then, lets go in and see what we can do for fun," Kakashi chortled nervously.

To Kakashi, this place certainly changed since the last time he visited; it used to be much neater than this, and the people seemed more alive back then too. There were a few familiar faces Kakashi saw but didn't want to start a conversation that could have his head.

This village wasn't so eased on the rules, in fact, they lived off the rules. So if one rule was broken, the person responsible would most definitely lose his life.

Kakashi nudged Sakura, "stay close; these people don't look as welcoming as they use to," he warned, glancing at anyone who gave him funny stares, "don't talk to anyone until we are on the safe side of the village and until I say so," he added, trying to keep his serious expression constant without making the townspeople get suspicious.

Sakura felt edgy about going through with this nonsense, but she didn't want to get herself into trouble.

The two walked as quick as they could until they reached the other half of the village. Now things were brightening up for them. This was most likely the rich side of town; everyone was dressed nicely and were clean, although it was nothing like tea party.

Sakura was now starting to feel safe, and Kakashi's serious appearance calmed and he looked more relaxed in his laid back attitude, "we'll stay here; I know a few guys here," he said calmly.

Kakashi opened the door and let Sakura into the building. It was slightly dark and the place reeked of alcohol; Sakura should've seen this coming, '_a pub; I wonder why it doesn__'__t surprise me,_' she thought, staring lamely at the bartender as Kakashi gave her another prod to keep walking.

"Well if it isn't the famous Sharingan Kakashi from the Leaf," the bartender spoke, eyes widened and glad to see the Jounin.

Kakashi grinned politely and sat down, pulling Sakura along so she'd sit down as well, "hey Yohite-san," he greeted with a wave and a smile. Sakura just stared blankly at the two men as they began to catch up on things before a croaky grunt caught her attention.

"How long has it been?" the bartender, Yohite wondered, wiping down the bar with an old rag.

"I think about uhh…fifteen years," Kakashi stated, a little overwhelmed by the sudden blast from the past.

Yohite laughed deeply and slammed Kakashi a good pat on the back, "but either way, it's been way too long," he laughed again, making Kakashi chuckle sheepishly.

Sakura sat there next to Kakashi, feeling a bit left out of the conversation. Yohite leaned to the side and grinned widely at Sakura, "so who's this pretty young lady?" he asked, ogling dreamily at the medic. Sakura felt herself being watched under the bartender's gaze, making her shudder inwardly.

"Oh yeah, Yohite, this is Haruno Sakura. Sakura, this is Yohite," Kakashi cursorily introduced them to one another.

Another grunt made Sakura look to her right to find a heavily drunk man, glaring tiredly at the medic, shifting closer to her very slowly.

The drunkard smelt of Sake, making Sakura's nose itch from the smell. Sakura wasn't the type to drink right after a mission and wake up early the next morning, not knowing what had happened and having a huge headache.

The last time Sakura got really drunk was when she passed the Jounin exams, and Sakura decided to throw the biggest booze party at her apartment. Almost the entire village population was there and Sakura had one too many shots of Sake and sort of forgotten about what she was doing.

Sakura got so drunk that Naruto had to save her from seduction with Genma. Although Sakura threw a fit at the poor blonde, she was lucky that she didn't end up in bed with the older Jounin. If it hadn't been for Naruto, Sakura would've woken up the next day, regretting something that she never should've done.

But, those worries aside and behind her, Sakura had to focus on what was staring her right in the face. She glared evilly at the man while he tried to make a sloppy move on her.

Meanwhile, next to Sakura, was the conversation between Kakashi and Yohite, "yeah, so she's the last remaining of Team 7, not counting me of course, and Tsunade-sama assigned us both on a mission to get over the loss of a very close comrade," Kakashi explained, staring at his hands that lay on the bar.

Yohite nodded, grabbing two glasses from the cabinet and pulling out a bottle of Sake, "so I take it that the mission is going well so far," he wondered, setting the small glasses on the table and pouring each with the same substance.

Kakashi nodded, glancing at Sakura, who was dealing with a problem of her own, "yeah, so far so good," he stated, returning his attention to the slim bartender in front of him.

That's it. Sakura had enough of being so shy. It was time to show the damn drunkard who could take the advantage of who. As the conversation went on between Kakashi and Yohite, there was an impulsive sound coming from next to Kakashi.

At an instant, Kakashi looks to where Sakura was sitting and found her standing up with her fist in the air, fuming at the drunkard who was now lying crippled on the floor, "touch me again you creep and you'll never be able to look at women the same way again," she threatened, clenching her fist tightly as the drunk man on the floor struggled to get up.

Yohite leaned over the bar to see what was going on, "hey Osen, get the hell out of here you drunk bastard, you've had enough," he flicked a shooing motion with his hand and the injured drunkard scurried out of the pub without another word.

"Sorry about that, he's a local, and he gets drunk at any time of the day," Yohite sighed.

Kakashi glanced at Sakura, not surprised at all that she nearly blew her top off with anger. Sakura stared at Kakashi with an angry pout on her face, "what? He was trying to hit on me; I was just using self-defence," she snapped, sitting back down.

Yohite stared a moment more at the angered medic before finally saying, "it's good to see you again Kakashi-san," Kakashi curved his eyes up to a smile and chuckled, "well it is good to get out of Konoha for a while, and this mission isn't that much of a handle, yet," he replied, giving a straight face to Sakura before giving her a warming smile.

"So how has it been on the mission so far?" Yohite asked curiously.

"Well, the objectives on the mission are to have as much fun as possible for the next two weeks," Kakashi paused, looking around the pub to find Kuro only sleeping next to his bag. What a relief that he didn't go running off on his own.

Yohite nodded, although wanting to laugh at the mission's purpose, he stayed calm, "and are you the type who enjoys the fun?" he wondered, hoping Kakashi wouldn't take that as an offence, "not exactly; I prefer to keep my fun to myself," he chuckled sheepishly before scratching the bridge of his nose nervously.

"More like keep your fun in your little books," Sakura started lazily, resting her head on her palm, as if she was waiting for some kind of entertainment to hit her.

Yohite laughed obnoxiously at the older Jounin, "books huh? So you're a book man now," he laughed, slapping Kakashi on the back again, making him nearly choke on his own saliva.

Kakashi cleared his throat and glared at the pink haired medic, who was now smiling innocently as if she didn't do a thing, "well, sort of. I read the Icha Icha series," Kakashi tried to simplify the conversation better without involving his interests in such a quick process.

"Well that explains you then. I always pictured you as a pervert," Yohite blurted out with a laugh.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, surprised at how quick Yohite caught up with what Kakashi enjoyed most in his life. Sakura just guffawed loudly, while trying to contain herself in a mannerly fashion, "you took the words right out of my mouth," she stated.

Everyone had their laughs at the bar until Yohite offered Sakura some of the Sake that sat there untouched on the bar. One after another, Sakura downed at least ten shots, but she was still normal, or she might've already lost that when she was laughing hysterically at Kakashi for no apparent reason at all.

It was just past noon and Kakashi had actually planned on taking Sakura somewhere, but now that she must've been drunk, it had to wait until later, "well Yohite-san, it had been wonderful to finally catch up, but Sakura and I have places to go, so we might see each other another time," Kakashi started, though wishing he wouldn't and stay a little longer.

"It was fun Kakashi-san, and I know we'll meet again, so have a good one," Yohite bid his farewell as Kakashi and Sakura left the pub, making sure they had their bags with them and made sure Kuro and Kitsune were as well.

Once outside the building, Sakura froze at something she just saw out in front of her, '_it can__'__t be__…'_ she thought, staring at the bushes not too far from her presence.

It was unbelievable that Sakura finally saw him after two months. Kakashi tilted his head to see what was bothering Sakura so much for her to make such a terrified expression, "Sakura-chan?" he asked trying to figure out his former student.

Sakura remained silent, still gaping at whatever it was in front of her. She finally raised her arm and pointed at the shrubs only four metres away, "there…" she muttered, still her expression spoke of horror.

"Are you sure you're not just seeing things, I mean you did have quite a few drinks back there," Kakashi started, trying to calm the medic down with easy words.

"No, no, I don't get drunk that easily," Sakura said calmly, quickly glancing at the Jounin behind her.

Kakashi sighed, looking in Sakura's direction to see what she saw, "but I don't see anything," he denied, raising an eyebrow at the pink haired Jounin.

Sakura took a deep breath and faced Kakashi, "I just saw Sasuke-kun," though it sounded so surreal in the medic's voice but, it sounded as almost Sakura was afraid to see Sasuke again.

Kakashi knew Sakura was madly in love with the boy until he left the village and become Orochimaru's apprentice for the lust of power, but even then, Sakura wasn't scared of her own childhood crush, was she?

"But we haven't seen Sasuke for almost two years," Kakashi protested against Sakura's beliefs.

Clearly Sakura was hiding something; she knew something Kakashi didn't. Sakura wanted to explain the truth to Kakashi but didn't know when to tell him. Not only was she afraid of telling Kakashi the truth, but ever since the medic was seen when it happened to Naruto, Sakura feared Sasuke all that much more, thinking that he would find her some day and kill her slowly, making her suffer until there was nothing left to torture.

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**Author's Notes**: okay... pondering I'm not really a drunk writing fan, but I had to make it interesting. Yes, the sound of a 'mysterious' forest sounds rank, but it gets better don't worry. I thought that the drunk fella was funny coz he was being an ass to Sakura and got a punch in the face; and the threat Sakura made was even better (on my opinion though). So how did I do on this chapter? You tell me. Thanks for reading, now review please; the next chapter will be up asap


	10. Chapter 10: A Dizzy Trip In A Forest

**Author's notes:** Sorry it took me a while to update here (not so sure how long it is usually for other authors to update: weeks? months? who knows) I was celebrating my sixteenth birthday with my mates and wasn't allowed on the net. Anyways, here we have it, chapter ten . Yes, we are getting very far already crowd claps not only that, but I think we're almost half way through (yes it's long, but who's counting) I feel like I've won an award or something theme music I'd like to thank you guys for reviewing on all my chapters, I love it: 21 to be exact. but anyway, here it is "A Dizzy Trip In A Forest", it sounds crap, but I'm sure you'll like it

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CHAPTER TEN: A DIZZY TRIP IN A FOREST

Sakura finally calmed down after Kakashi spoke to her a few times that made her feel more secure.

"Okay Sakura-chan, now I want to take you somewhere that might make you feel a little unsteady, but you'll get use to it," Kakashi insisted on taking her; a chance for Kakashi to decide to his kind fun activity.

Sakura nodded as Kakashi nudged her to move on. With the help of Kitsune's loyal personality, Sakura was able to regain certainty in life without the worries taking her back three paces all the time.

After a walk through the last half of the village, Sakura was getting very restless, "Kakashi-sensei, where are you taking me?" she asked in a slight groan of impatience.

"You'll see," Kakashi replied with a grin on his hidden face.

Sakura didn't bother trying to ask further questions; it wouldn't get her anywhere anyway. The walk wasn't that long, Sakura was just being pushed along until Kakashi led the way in the last few minutes.

Kakashi ended up bringing Sakura in a forest. The trees all looked strange and their shapes almost resembled people. As Kakashi made his way along the track with Sakura staring at his feet right behind him, she looks back at the path she walked to find it totally changed. Sakura felt sick now.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she worried, turning to look at Kakashi, but to find that she was all alone; Kakashi had wandered off somewhere else.

Now Sakura was getting scared, and now that she was all alone with only the sounds of the wind in the trees, Sakura felt more vulnerable with no one by her side to help her, "Kakashi-sensei," she tried again, this time with more concern.

Sakura could feel her heartbeat in her throat as the loneliness increased. The medic took a deep breath to calm down and started to follow where Kakashi was last seen, until she stumbled across a fork in the road. This was bad; Sakura had to chose which road to go through, but one could lead her further away from Kakashi.

As awkward as it sounded, Sakura needed Kakashi, as if her life depended on her. She was nineteen years old yet she still cried like the little girl she used to be, and her loyalty towards her former sensei self stronger than ever.

"Kakashi-sensei," she called again.

Sakura decided to head to one path, having no idea where she'd end up, but took her chances. She was a mature woman now and it was time to prove it. Running down the path, looking at every tree she passed; all looking the same and none led her anywhere she found comfortable.

Kitsune stayed perched up on her shoulder and gave a worrying meow to the medic. Sakura reached back and patted the brown fox before slowing down on her traces, and staring hopelessly at the ground.

"Kakashi! Is this your idea of having fun?" Sakura shouted at the top of her lungs, hoping the silver haired man would hear her.

Still no sign of the older Jounin, Sakura was ready to give up, before she heard a growling sound from within the bushes behind her. The rustling got louder as it surrounded the medic, making Sakura pull out a kunai.

She glared at the resonance, her knees shaking and her mind unsteady; Sakura just wanted to get out of here, and without even thinking, Sakura wanted Kakashi by her side.

Sakura was ready to cry out from fear and let whatever wanted her to kill her, "please…where are you?" Sakura whispered, ready to collapse and give up completely.

"Sakura-chan…" a voice called from within the noise.

Sakura held her breath at the sound. She held up her kunai tightly and closed her eyes, bracing herself from whatever it was, "Sakura-chan…" there it went again, the same lonesome tone, deep and calm.

Sakura opened her eyes, wishing everything would turn out okay, before a name slurred from her parted lips, "Sasuke-kun…" Sakura felt her legs weaken again.

Now Sakura knew it was him. That raven haired boy was easily distinguished from a voiced group; though he didn't speak much, but when Sakura heard the cold hearted voice, she knew it belonged to Sasuke.

"What do you want?" she asked firmly, searching around to find the raven boy.

"You know well what I want, and I'm not about to let it go any time soon," the voice sounded bitter, moving around more within the shrubbery.

After those words, Sakura gulped deeply before the rustling and the movements had ceased, leaving behind a very shocked Sakura, holding onto a kunai as if it was the last thing she could do.

Sighing deeply, Sakura shook her head and said, "time to grow up," those bold words seemed empty, but Sakura had to say something to make her move. She jogged down the track, making sure Kitsune was with her. Sakura had to find a way out of this Genjutsu enhanced forest before it got dark.

After about an extra five minutes of walking and searching, Sakura was getting tired and still scared. Kitsune stroked Sakura's face with her fur in hopes of getting Sakura in a more safer position, "thanks Kitsune, but I need to find a way out of here fast," she pointed out, kunai still in hand.

Sakura was beginning to worry about Kakashi's safety, wondering if he was okay and not confronted by Sasuke. With those doubts now pushed aside, Sakura made her way further down the trail, hoping she'd find someone soon before she went mentally insane.

"Kakashi!" she tried once more, everything slowly falling apart.

Not only was Sakura alone (not counting Kitsune), but she was also hungry. Sakura hadn't eaten since this morning and right now would be a good time to sit down and eat, but no. Sakura was stubborn and wanted to save the food til later.

The medic rushed her way around before she was getting too tired to go on. Huffing and puffing, Sakura caught her breath, getting down on her knees in exhaustion. Kitsune stares at the medic with a sad frown, meowing mournfully, trying to get Sakura to move on, but it was no use.

"I'm sorry Kitsune, I'm just tired," she muttered, patting the fox gently before she sensed a proverbial presence.

Alas, Sakura was too tired to pin-point exactly where the person was, but she knew she would like it when she saw it, "Sakura-chan, you okay?" the calm voice asked from afar.

Now alert, Sakura whirled her head around to find Kakashi in almost the same state she was, tired and worn out, "Sensei," she sighed in relief, ready to fall on her back and go to sleep.

Kakashi stumbled to the medic's side and held out his hand, which Sakura gladly took. Once on her two feet, Sakura gave Kakashi a gentle hug, happy to see her former sensei with her after about a long hour.

"I was wondering where you were," Kakashi mentioned, patting his former student on the head and smiling.

"Me too," Sakura mumbled, looking down at their feet and watching Kuro and Kitsune greet each other again.

Kakashi stood there, wondering why Sakura was so freaked out to begin with. He wondered why Sakura was hugging him like this. He wondered why Sakura was almost acting like the immature little brat he used to teach. He wondered why he was thinking about all of this. But Kakashi had to hand it to the medic; Sakura had survived over a month of agony and sorrow and yet she hadn't killed herself. And on the honest statement, Kakashi was proud to have taught her as a student.

"Sakura-chan, I think I know how to get out of here," Kakashi decided, letting Sakura go and facing the pathway.

Sakura felt thrilled to finally get out of here, "really, I think I might've found one too," she said with a wide grin on her face. Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest thoughtfully and said, "well then, you first," with that said, Sakura gladly faced the edge of the path and shoved on her super power gloves, glaring seriously at the trees that stood in her way.

"Lets get out of here," Sakura readied herself in her fighting stance and heaved her fists at the ground, causing the earth to shake.

Kakashi took a few steps back to get out of the medic's furry and watched carefully on Sakura's progress in strength. Sakura pounded the ground and let her rage slowly take over before it split the earth and into the trees' path and causing an explosion of dust and flying branches.

With one new path made from the forest, Sakura grabbed Kakashi's hand and pulled him through. Now with only one hand really needed and the other holding onto the surprised Jounin, Sakura pulverized the next collection of trees and continued to move in a straight line.

Hopping on branches to the ones following, Sakura roughly dragged Kakashi along, ignoring anything he wanted to say to the medic and kept right on going until there was nothing left to smash. Kakashi winced every once in a while as he was being towed through the forest. He could barely feel his hand anymore now that Sakura had her hand on it, and basically smothered it in her tight grip.

'_Why is Sakura-chan so riled up all of a sudden?_' he thought, '_it__'__s actually quite scary to see her like this,_'

Kakashi was lunged across and expertly regained his balance whenever a bough hit him in the face. He tried to follow Sakura's movements but she was so fired up that she was too quick for him. Wait a minute? Did Kakashi just think that Sakura was faster than him? There was no way she could be, unless Kakashi was just mistaken for her angered personality.

Another explosion through the trees and finally Sakura stopped on a familiar road. It was wide and the surface was different to the normal pathways. Sakura inspected the road quickly before realising they made it outside.

Both gasping and panting to catch their breathes, Sakura searched her surroundings in case of anyone trying to get in her way still, "great, we made it," she panted, getting up and looking back at Kakashi to find him slightly dazed from the trip. Not only that, but Kakashi was also injured with a number of cuts and gashes.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're bleeding," Sakura vexed, staring at the blood in the Jounin's hair.

Kakashi stared strangely at the pink haired medic as she sat in front of him on her knees, ogling the small injuries on his forehead. Though Kakashi didn't really care that he was injured, the scratches on his face stung a little after the blood began to slowly run down the side of his face.

"These are just scratches, it's nothing big," he said, touching the blood, now stained his fingers.

"But you're bleeding like there's no tomorrow; I need to stop it," Sakura retaliated, leaning towards Kakashi and placing a hand on his masked face.

Kakashi felt uneasy of this at first but let Sakura be the nurse and heal his small cuts. It didn't seem so necessary to heal such small injuries but Kakashi just couldn't refuse the offer, or in this case, refuse the bad-tempered Kunoichi.

Sakura moved to the side of the pathway in case of an oncoming person or traffic, which rarely ever seemed to happen. Once out of the way and on a nice patch of grass, Sakura opened her backpack and pulled out a cloth and her bottle of water.

Sakura soaked the cloth and gently placed it on the Jounin's forehead, replacing the headband he still wore to cover his eye. Kakashi just sat there against a tree while Sakura tended to his cuts.

Sakura neatly placed the headband next to her stuff and continued to help Kakashi with the wounds on his face. Sakura made herself comfortable next to the silver haired man and placed her hand on the side of Kakashi's face, "I'm just going to use some of my chakra to stop the bleeding," she said with a serious yet gentle expression.

Kakashi nodded slowly and let Sakura do what she needed to do to help him. Sakura concentrated some of her chakra to her right hand and placed it on the Jounin's forehead. Slowly, Sakura poured her chakra into the cut on Kakashi's face and it began to heal the injuries.

Kakashi felt the chakra sooth his cuts and felt more relaxed and closed his eyes. He wasn't relaxed from his healing wounds but the fact that Sakura was fixing them; it made Kakashi feel happy that someone cared for him in this way.

"Ne, Sakura-chan-" Kakashi was cut off when Sakura placed her two fingers before his masked lips, silencing him.

Sakura didn't say anything, but closed her eyes, feeling for any other cuts on the silver haired Jounin by using her chakra. With nothing more to heal, Sakura opened her eyes to find Kakashi glaring at her.

She didn't realise it but Sakura still had her hands on the man's face. The only way Sakura reacted was turning a dark shade of red and immediately pretending that she wasn't quite done yet, but looking around with her burning red face to check for anything else she might've missed.

"Okay, I think it's all healed," she spoke softly, wiping her hands down to get the blood off.

Kakashi tied his headband on again and covered his Sharingan eye, sighing in relief after his little treatment, "though it wasn't really necessary to heal such small injuries, I appreciate that you care about me, so thank you Sakura-chan," he smiled softly at the medic.

Sakura's blush faded and returned the thanks with a wide smile. Yes, Sakura is starting to lighten up after the loss of such a close friend within such a tragic death; after Sakura saw Naruto fight with Sasuke that day, and after Sasuke did _that_ to the blonde, Sakura knew something was going wrong.

The two Jounins get up with Sakura helping Kakashi up. Sakura had a strange feeling in her gut that she couldn't figure out, '_why am I feeling this?_' she wondered, picking up her bag slowly with a blank and confused expression plastered on her face.

Kitsune and Kuro were running about around Sakura and Kakashi's legs, before Sakura picks up Kitsune, ending the fun for now, "come on Kitsune," she whooped, patting the brown fox playfully.

Kuro willingly leaps up on Kakashi's shoulder, hoping he would get some attention from the silver haired Jounin, "meow," he purred, brushing his head against Kakashi's. Kakashi sighed as he patted the black fur ball.

Sakura and Kakashi made their way onto the road before Kakashi grabbed the medic's wrist, stopping her on her tracks. Sakura first looked at the hand on her wrist and then at Kakashi, who was looking around suspiciously.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started, glaring at the Jounin, "what's wrong?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he watched the trees dancing in the blowing wind. Still no answer, Sakura waited for the man to reply.

"Kakashi-sensei-" before Sakura could say anything more, she was cut off when Kakashi glared seriously at her.

Still ogling at the medic, Kakashi finally says, "we're still in the maze forest," he stated firmly, at last letting go of Sakura's wrist. Sakura felt like just giving up; stuck in a mazed forest where the chances of getting out is slim due to the changing environment.

"There is no way we're still in the damn forest," Sakura was agitated now.

Kakashi nodded his head, "I know, I was sure you got us out of the jutsu, but I guess there is still a while before we can get out," Kakashi sighed deeply and scratched the back of his neck frustratingly.

Sakura expression spoke of disappointment and failure before she felt determined to keep going until she was finally free from the wretched woods. She faced Kakashi with a narrowed grin on her face, "I have an idea," she started, glaring at Kakashi with her unwavering expression.

Once the plans were set out and confirmed, Sakura and Kakashi were ready to get out with the plan in mind.

The two made slow paces down the track and kept their eyes on the trees around them. Sakura paid close attention to any differences within their movements. Kakashi just watched the clouds in case the forest would rotate somehow.

They hear hasty noises coming from within the trees around them and knew they had to keep a sharp eye on anything that could jump out or change the environment. A swift shadow caught Sakura's attention. She glared at the traced steps and continued to walk.

Any minute now, Kakashi and Sakura would make a run for it and fool who ever was using the jutsu. Kakashi was curious to know now, "ne, Sakura-chan, why do you believe that the forest id being controlled by someone's jutsu?" he asked, glancing to his right at the trees.

"Because a forest can't produce a jutsu," she replied firmly, not making any eye contact with the other Jounin, "there has to be a catch to this 'mystery,'"

Kakashi stared a while more before a loud sound alerted both of them. Nervous at first, Kakashi had to remember that he was an elite Shinobi of the Leaf; a Copy Nin and a Hatake with the Sharingan ability. If it weren't for his best friend of the Uchiha clan, Kakashi would never have become who he was now.

The noises got louder and Sakura glared angrily at the trees and shrubs, pulling out a kunai and staying completely still. Just one tiny movement would cause Sakura to draw her attack, pelting anything she would get.

Sakura looks up at the sky and then at the path they walked before and saw that it was starting to morph into another part of the forest track, "now!" Sakura demanded, dashing ahead of Kakashi, sending the signal with her incredible speed.

Kakashi raced after the pink haired Kunoichi and easily caught up with her. Ahead of the trail Sakura could see the clouds and path changing again, "turn!" she shouted loudly.

With a quick turn of the body and a swift movement of the arms, Kakashi reached out for Sakura's arm and began to head straight back the way they came. With Kakashi's lightning speed, he carried Sakura back and through the morphing forest and ended up on the other side.

Without any thoughts over what they were doing, Kakashi and Sakura raced against the Genjutsu technique to make it out of the forest in one piece. By confusing the so-called jutsu user, Kakashi and Sakura dived through a small collection of shrubbery and trees until they crash-landed onto another path with Sakura on top of Kakashi.

As embarrassing as it seemed, all the two Jounins could do was stare at each other, both panting with Sakura hanging over Kakashi with an exhausted appearance.

"Well…" Kakashi muttered, "this is awkward,"

Sakura sighed deeply before relaxing herself and resting her head on the Jounin's chest. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Sakura could hear Kakashi's steady heartbeat, thumping in its calm rhythm. It all felt strange to Sakura; it wasn't weird or embarrassing, it was actually comfortable lying on the other Jounin.

Kakashi just lay there, staring at the sky before glancing down at the pink haired medic, wondering of all things what she was doing. He had a few premonitions, but didn't want to go there; it would only lead back to his nasty thoughts.

Lying on the road was something Kakashi wasn't in for anymore. He clears his throat and says, "lets head back to the village; it's getting late," Sakura immediately shot her head up and her face turned the same colour as her hair.

"O-okay," she stuttered, getting up from the silver haired Jounin and rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

Kakashi got up, adjusting his shirt and wiping off the dust from his pants. The two made their way down the track and before they knew it, they reached the village; they knew for sure that they got out of that Genjutsu. Sakura and Kakashi found a place to stay for the night and stayed there for the rest of the evening until the next day dawned through the trees.

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**Author's notes:** I made a fluffy ponders , yes it sounds a bit odd, but I just couldn't help myself. I kind of made Sakura have really fast mood swings when she was in the forest: normal. frustrated. happy. angry. angry. worried. happy. serious, and goes on for a while until the embarrassingly fluffy part XD. Kakashi is going soft against the Shinobi crisis (no emotions whatsoever) starts dancing like an idiot Kakashi's going soft, Kakashi's going soft, Kakashi's going soft, Kakashi's going soft . Once again, I'd also like to thank you guys for all the reviews, I love you, I love the reviews, and now as a favour, please review some more


	11. Chapter 11: Broken Dreams

**Author's notes**: Hey guys I'm back, sorry for taking so long; I was at this leadership camp for about a week so I wasn't able to update any sooner than last week. But moving on, here I am again with Chapter Eleven. Just to let you know, it's a bit angst in this chapter, but I'm pretty sure it gets better. But enough spoilers, please read and enjoy

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CHAPTER ELEVEN: BROKEN DREAMS

Kakashi awoke with a lazy and bored sigh, "day four already," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Something wasn't right; Kakashi felt something was out of place.

Curious to know, Kakashi slides out of his bed and walked out of the bedroom; the living area was small, with only a small TV and couch. Kakashi knew something was up with Sakura. Last night she was quiet for most of the evening; Kakashi couldn't understand why.

Kakashi nonchalantly made his way past the couch and to the tiny kitchen only a few metres away. Right at the window, Kakashi hears slight movements outside. Ears twitching, Kakashi faces the sounds to find Sakura sitting on the branch of a tall tree reaching up to the windowsill.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan, and what on earth might've led you to sit on a branch," Kakashi started with inquisitiveness.

Sakura remained quiet and silence ensued. With no luck in getting an answer, Kakashi climbs up on the branch of the tree and slowly made his way to the medic's side, "so what was it that made you sit out here in the morning," he asked in slight desperation.

Still no answer, only the shuffling of Sakura's backside on the thick branch to sit more comfortably. Now that there were two people on the tree limb, Kakashi was a bit precarious about the weight limit the tree could handle.

Sakura blinked a few times, finally taking the time to pay attention to the other Jounin sitting next to her, "I was just thinking about something," she muttered, rubbing her nose tensely.

Kakashi nods, knowing the lack of answers he would get would be mute, "okay then," he shuffles his way back through the apartment window, but right at that point, Sakura had just changed her mind about her repeated and boring answer.

"Wait," she said curtly, staring at Kakashi with her now wide open emerald eyes, "something is bothering me," she deadpanned, trying to restrain any points of her having a cry over nothing.

Kakashi, who was now in thought of giving the closest person a high-five for his little accomplishment for his mocking routine; he sighed, getting back on the windowsill and sitting there and waiting for Sakura to continue, "then why didn't you just say so in the beginning," he responded in his dextrous ways to talk to the ladies.

He cocked his head to the side, watching Sakura's expressions turn blank, "I keep having flashback dreams where everything I've seen of Naruto's death comes back and it's five times worse than it was when it happened," she exclaimed, rubbing her temples frustratingly.

"I see," Kakashi looks down at his feet, '_poor Sakura-chan, the anguish she is going through is worse than I anticipated_,' he said inwardly, only wishing he could do something about it to make Sakura exultant

Fun.

Kakashi despised that word just as much as the next person with the lack of teamwork in his skills. But Kakashi had to make sure they had fun for the rest of the mission. How hard could it be? All Kakashi had to do was keep Sakura happy for as long as possible and once they get back to Konoha, Kakashi could just lie a little that he had so much fun that he could do it again. But knowing Tsunade, she'll see through the incredulous tale and demand the truth.

But back to the problem at hand. Kakashi had to keep Sakura happy. It wouldn't be that hard would it? They could run around and go to other villages with so many things to do. Swimming was one of them, but Kakashi wasn't too keen in the water. They could train. Yeah, training was always fun; but Sakura always found it exhausting and boring after a while. Oh boy. This was harder than Kakashi thought it would.

He sighed and scratched the back of his head, wishing an answer would break into his head and take over. Of all the things Kakashi could and would do in a mission, it had to be one where he didn't have to kill someone or retrieve a sacred scroll from a mansion filled with elite ninjas; Kakashi would've preferred that better.

Not only that, but Kakashi had to spend the next two weeks with Haruno Sakura, his former student and not so close friend. Spending time with the gorgeous Kunoichi with the long smooth legs and the slim body with those sizable b-

Whoa, wait just a darn minute there.

Kakashi can't think of Sakura that way; she's his former student and he is her former teacher. Plus, he is many years her senior and being with her in that way would be stepping over so many lines. Not to mention Tsunade and her memo addiction; she'd be sending letters to everyone in the village with the headline 'Hatake and Haruno together; possible children,'

Just the thought sent chills down Kakashi's spine. He mentally shook his head in hopes of ridding himself from those images and returned to the worried Kunoichi on the tree branch.

Sakura stared aimlessly at her feet, dangling from the branch. She glowered at the distance from her and the ground below, deep in thought.

"Come on Sakura-chan, get inside so we can have an early day," Kakashi advised, getting inside the room and allowing Sakura to follow him.

In the latter, Sakura slowly made her way to the end of the branch, making sure she wouldn't look down from the reasonable height she was at. Kakashi reached out a hand to aid Sakura to her safe floor and subtly took it and stepped in.

Once on the safe side, Kakashi gave Sakura a composing smirk, letting her know everything would be okay. Sakura grinned back at him, though it was just to façade her true sentiments inside.

"So, what shall we do today?" Kakashi started, bringing his hands together in a single clap and waiting for Sakura to actually answer him.

Sakura tilted her head in thought, wondering too what they would do, "umm, lets see, we can go to the next village," she suggested, her finger on her chin in thought.

"Okay," Kakashi shrugged, walking back into the bedroom and started packing.

Sakura stood there with a bemused expression on her face; it spoke nothing but frustration and dismay. Something deep inside was troubling her, and she wasn't about to drop it like she always did.

Kitsune strayed her way to Sakura's side and nudged her on the leg. The medic glanced down at the brown fox, squinting like she always did, "I'm sorry Kitsune, but I don't think it will work this time," her grimace was constant and her voice sounded hoarse, making Kitsune frown deeply.

From the bedroom, Kakashi heard every word, and much to his dismay, he might not be able to help Sakura anymore with the state she was currently in. Kakashi remained silent as he listened to Sakura's harsh words.

"I don't think we'll be able to successfully complete the mission anymore," Sakura said softly, wondering if there was any hope left.

Kakashi was dumbfounded after those words and wondered if what she said was something that was inevitable. He ignored any other words from the medic's mouth and stared at his bag with Kuro ogling him with his cute blue eyes.

As a sort of contribute to Sakura's worries, Kakashi decided to pack her bag as well, just to be nice. While doing so, Kakashi picked up a photograph of the students he once taught many years ago and stared gloomily at the people in there.

Each of his students had a unique personality: Naruto was the mischievous one with the personality of a six year old. Sasuke was the lone-wolf one, who only sought to avenge his clan and always avoided conversation. Sakura loved to nag and always drooled over Sasuke whenever she got the chance.

Kakashi saw himself back then as the unlucky teacher who had to control little immature children. But he put one and one together and managed to like them. He had to live with them as the teacher until they were old enough to be called something other than a child. But of all teams to be dysfunctional, why Team 7? Sasuke ran off to Orochimaru for his lust for power and revenge, leaving only Naruto and Sakura.

Now, after another few years since Sasuke's betrayal, Naruto dies of some unknown accident and only he and Sakura are left. So what was he doing now? A reunion with his former and only student on a mission to have fun? Definitely not one of Kakashi's hobbies.

"Sakura-chan," Kakashi started, putting the picture away and closing her bag up.

"Hm," Sakura replied lazily.

"I know that you're already having a hard time this morning," Kakashi paused, wondering what to say next, "but maybe if you have a bit of hope, you can get the chance to enjoy yourself on the mission,"

Silence.

Sakura stormed into the room with a reviled glare, "how could you say that at a point like this," she snapped maliciously.

Kakashi backed away a bit before coming to his senses, "Sakura-chan I know what yo-"

"No, you don't know what I'm going through, you know nothing about me," Kakashi was cut off by Sakura's fuming rage.

Kakashi should've seen this coming; being taught by one of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade was rubbing off on Sakura. She had a reputation for going off at people at random times, but this was not what Kakashi wanted to see from his students.

Before Sakura could continue on what she had said before, she remembered the very last words of that small argument:

"_You know nothing about me,__"_ those words swam around in Sakura's brain, rewinding constantly.

Kakashi noticed the uncertainty in the medic's eyes and protested, "I do know what you're going through because I feel it too," Sakura glared angrily at Kakashi, wanting to say something almost hurtful but couldn't find the right words.

"This is a mission, Sakura-chan, and it's Tsunade's ord-" Kakashi was cut off again.

"Tsunade isn't here," she yelled, "this mission isn't working and I'd rather die than go through with this," Sakura started to weakly punch Kakashi in the chest, trying to find every way to fight back against him, "I'd rather die than have to suffer in all those painful nightmares and I'd rather die than be stuck with you in this mission," that was it. Sakura had literally snapped. She had lost it.

Kuro and Kitsune hid under the bed from the raging Kunoichi and waited for the fight to end. Kakashi stared ominously at Sakura and the words that came from her lips had hurt him more than a kunai stabbed in the back.

Sakura tried hard to both hit him and not hurt him at all, which certainly was the case. Kakashi didn't fight back, nor did he say anything that would help, "Sakura," he tried but Sakura refused to listen.

"No, no, no. I just want everything to stop," Sakura's punching ceased to mere nudges with her fists, with tears spilling from her eyes.

Finally Kakashi fought back with a subtle grip on the medic's wrists, stopping her from doing anything. Sakura sobbed as the uncontrollable tears rolled down her red cheeks. She rests her forehead against Kakashi's chest before slowly falling to the floor on her knees with Kakashi still holding onto her arms.

Sakura closed her eyes as her shoulders shook up and down from the sobbing and just let her sadness take over. Kakashi looked down at the crying medic with a regretful look in his only visible eye. He knelt down in front of the depressing Kunoichi and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura…" Kakashi waited with his proclamation in case Sakura would yell at him again.

Nothing was happening, and Kakashi felt kind of glad that Sakura wasn't saying anything anymore and sighed deeply, "Sakura, I'm sorry you have to suffer like this, and I don't mean to hurt you by saying that; all I'm trying to tell you is that this mission is to help us overcome the problems we've had to endue in the past month,"

Sakura sniffed nasally and huffed under her breath, "I know," she sobbed, not making any eye contact with the Copy Nin. Sakura went back to what she screamed at Kakashi before and felt extremely guilty for saying such empty words.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I'm losing it," Sakura wept in misery, ready to end her life on the spot.

Sakura wiped a few tears from her face but they just wouldn't stop flowing out. Kakashi reached out a hand to grab Sakura's but she tried to pull away, mumbling softly at him, "no, no, no more," she strived to avoid Kakashi's reach but she felt too weak inside to push away.

Kakashi now had both his hands on either shoulder of the Kunoichi, "Sakura, please, just look at me," he said, nudging Sakura lightly for her to listen.

Sakura finally made eye contact, staring mildly at Kakashi, who took his time to collect the right words, "Sakura, you are not losing it, all you have to do is try, and you'll be okay," he paused for a moment, sighing deeply.

Sakura tightly closed her eyes and bobbed her head down, "I want to help you Sakura, but if you act like this, then I can't help, so you need to trust me," Kakashi persisted, rubbing the medic's shoulder gently.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

Sakura opened her eyes again, watching Kakashi's intent gaze of hope and finally said, "Yes," sobbing still, Sakura wiped more tears away before Kakashi pulled her closer for a tender hug.

Now with all the emotion coming from both Jounins, Sakura couldn't help but allow more tears to well up and stream down her cheeks, "I'm sorry about what I said to you before," she mumbled in a small weep.

Kakashi hushed her and placed his hand on the back of the medic's head. Sakura had her arms wrapped around Kakashi's neck and had her face buried in the man's shirt and shoulder.

"I was wrong to bring that up and I shouldn't have interfered with your personal life," Kakashi said softly, resting his head against Sakura's.

This intimate embrace made Sakura warm and fuzzy inside. Her crying turned to sobs and she just leaned against the other Jounin. Sakura felt Kakashi's hot breath on the base of her neck that sent chills down her spine.

"I'm sorry I judged you in the words I shouldn't have said," Sakura uttered softly.

Kakashi was a bit surprised at what Sakura suddenly said, but sighed instead, "don't worry about it, everyone snaps every once in a while," he grinned lightly, "and besides, I basically went through one ear and out the other," he stated lucidly and finally pulls Sakura away from him.

With his hands still on the medic's shoulders, Kakashi leans in a bit too close for Sakura's comfort and kisses her on the cheek. Kakashi smiled softly, getting up and leaving the room with Kuro following right behind him.

Still on the floor, Sakura took the time to think about what the _hell_ just happened only a few minutes ago. Sure, Sakura woke up with another one of her horrible dreams and stayed up til morning. She stayed on the tree until Kakashi found her and asked her to get back inside.

Sakura gets angry and starts yelling at Kakashi, practically ignoring every word Kakashi tried to say. Sure, Sakura had a good cry and got a warming hug from the Copy Nin. But then a kiss on the cheek? Sakura had the feeling he went a little overboard.

Sakura was glad that she got that kiss but also scared that Kakashi would have the guts to try it again and end up chasing her out of the Fire Country. But besides all that, Sakura was flattered.

She touched her cheek where Kakashi's masked lips were and sighed in her famous shades of pink and red, '_okay__…__that was weird_,' she thought, before a rather obnoxious Inner Sakura interrupted, '_what are you talking about Sakura, you just got kissed by the most wanted man of all fan girls in Konoha, you got to be proud of yourself_,' as crazy as it sounded, Inner Sakura was had a point.

'_I am such a dumbass, why the hell did I just kiss her?_' Kakashi cursed himself to the nth time in the past two minutes and paced in front of the apartment door. Kuro sat there on the coffee table, purring lightly and watching Kakashi freak out over his own actions.

Kakashi stopped, staring thoughtfully at his feet, '_I just hope Sakura won__'__t take it personally, nor take it seriously_,' just the thought of Sakura wanting to come back for more made him shudder. Irks.

Kakashi shakes his head to rid himself from those disturbing images and sat on the couch to watch some TV. Surfing through channel by channel, Kakashi was bored already, so he pulls out his dirty reading material. Ah, Icha Icha Paradise, the book that makes every man's dreams come true.

Kakashi had to thank Jiraiya many times over for writing such wonderful novels; not to mention the annoying cliff-hangers at the end of each series, but that's what made Kakashi read them more. With a detailed plot and pictures to beat it, it made it almost irresistible to whoever read it.

Maybe Icha Icha Paradise was starting to rub off on him. Sure the novels Kakashi read were filled with erotic images of near naked women, but did it turn him into a porno crazed pervert? Not really; although he was mentioned as the Sharingan pervert from time to time, but it never really bothered Kakashi.

He read the books so much and for so long that he got use to all the nude images that would pop up in his head occasionally. Kakashi wouldn't be offended or spontaneously aroused if a real good-looking girl ran past him topless screaming his name right out of the blue.

With all those thoughts racing about in the Copy Nin's head, he had no idea that Sakura was standing at the door of the bedroom, with her bag by her feet. Uh oh, Kakashi's bad thoughts were truly cursed. Sakura wanted more? Oh god, Kakashi hoped not.

No words yet, Kakashi gaped innocently, waiting for Sakura to say something, "ready to go?" she finally enquired, staring nervously at the ground with Kitsune right next to her.

Kitsune was ogling the two Jounins before receiving a glare from the black fox on the couch, "umm, not quite, but I'll start now," Kakashi replied in his coherent manner and gets up, switching the TV off and making his way to the bedroom.

Once inside, Kakashi shut the door behind him and sighed in relief. He was ready to wipe the sweat from his forehead but he knew there wasn't much point since all this would most likely get much worse and intense.

Kakashi was glad that his little predicament was over quickly as he got down to his knees in front of his bag and stared lazily at all the clothes that were in there. He emptied his backpack and started to neatly fold everything to make room for other things, like himself if he was that desperate.

It was a good thing that Sakura didn't have her little vendetta held out for so long, otherwise Kakashi would've been on the receiving end of a painful threat, and knowing what Sakura was capable of, he didn't really want to be the victim here.

Another sigh escaped his masked lips as he folded another pair of shorts, but suddenly something struck him. An acquainted thought came back and his laziness changed to worry, "what if this mission really is meaningless," he wondered, waiting for an idea to crawl into his brain and waiting for the little light bulb to hover over his head with a 'ping'.

Kuro, who was sitting on his bed, gave off an incoherent meow, making Kakashi get his attention, finally. Kakashi stared at the black fox and patted him gently, smirking under his mask, "it's okay Kuro, I won't go off at anyone," he assured, returning his awareness to his clothes.

Kakashi had actually forgotten that he was still in the clothes he slept with last night and decided to change into something he could walk in public with. He swiftly dressed himself so Sakura wouldn't accidentally walk in on him with no pants on.

* * *

Author's notes: all I can say about this chapter (near the end of course) was "awwwww", this truley was a fluffy moment. I just had to make Kakashi kiss Sakura (only a soft, absent-minded, masked kiss) and I had to make Inner Sakura say something to make the mood better. I think this was probably one of my favourite chapters so far and I bet it will (should) get better. Well enough of my drabbling and nonsense, I really hope you enjoyed reading and once again, thanks for reviewing me on each chapter, but now I would like you to do it again as a favour winks , thanks 


	12. Chapter 12: Dilemma

**Author's Notes**: Horray!!! we are going fast with these chapters; chapter twelve already, whew . Anyway, I just want to thank all you guys out there for reading my story and standing with me for so long. I have to point out that we should be about half way by now (there's still a while to go though). Hold onto your panties and kunai knives because here is chapter TWELVE!!!! XD Hope you like it as much as I do and after that, can you pretty please do me that small favour a review on the chapter, it would be much obliged, thanks :P. Now enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Naruto, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, but if I did own Naruto and their characters, I would tie them up on my bed and never let them go , so enjoy XD

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CHAPTER TWELVE: DILEMMA

Now that Kakashi was in his day clothes, he packed the rest of his bag and shot out the door, looking back to make sure he didn't leave anything behind. Kuro leaps up onto his shoulder as he shut the door.

"Ready?" Kakashi wondered, putting his backpack on properly and patting Kuro on the head.

Sakura nods, getting up from the couch and was already in front of the door as if she was dying to leave this place. Kakashi looks around one last time to check that everything is as it should be and closed the door, locking it behind him.

Down three flights of stairs and into the small lobby, Kakashi hands the money to the old man behind the counter, looking a little precarious as if he was about to drop dead at any second.

After paying for the night they stayed, Kakashi and Sakura left the apartment building and was ready to head out. Sakura had Kitsune in her arms, who was crawling around to get comfortable and Kakashi had Kuro still sitting on his shoulder and decided to read Icha Icha Paradise, but there was a problem.

"Oh no," Kakashi muttered, shuffling his hand about in his kunai pouch.

Sakura looked back to watch Kakashi's lazy expression falter to utter shock and worry, "oh shit," he shrieked, stuffing his hands in every pocket on him to look for his orange book which he just couldn't find.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, trying to fathom anything that could possibly make Kakashi look the way he was currently.

Kakashi was ready to rip out his silver hair and scream, "I lost Icha Icha," he moaned, trying again with the searching, but alas he still couldn't find his book.

Sakura rolled her eyes before saying, "well how could you lose your book, you always have it with you," she put Kitsune on the ground and looked around, "I think it might still be on the couch of the apartment; that's where I last remember seeing it," Kakashi said frantically, right on the verge of slapping himself from his careless actions.

Kuro jumped down from Kakashi's shoulder and made his way to Kitsune's side, meowing softly to her as if they were having a regular conversation. Kitsune meows back with a foxy smile and starts purring briefly. She lifts her paw and rests it on Sakura's leg, trying to tell her something.

"Not now Kitsune, now is not the time to play games," Sakura protested, not having any clue in what was going on between the two foxes.

Kitsune and Kuro ran around playfully and dashed towards the tall tree near the apartment building, "what are they doing?" Kakashi wondered, watching the two young foxes climb up the tree and onto a familiar branch that Sakura was sitting on this morning.

That's when Kakashi knew what was happening, "I get it now; we left the window open in the apartment, and I think Kuro and Kitsune are going to try and get the book back," he stated, his hopes getting back in reach.

Kitsune stayed on the thick branch while Kuro leapt into the window to search for Kakashi's beloved novel. A minute or so later and Kuro appears on the windowsill with the orange book in his jaws.

"He got it," Sakura whooped.

Kakashi sighed, glad he had such a loyal fox with him. Kuro made his way onto the branch, slowly clawing his way towards Kitsune without falling or dropping the book. The black fox handed the orange book to Kitsune and climbed down part of the tree, making sure he wouldn't slide down any further.

"Reowr," Kuro yelped, giving the signal to Kitsune.

Kitsune mumbles a meow through the book she had in her mouth and drops it. Kakashi was sure to freak out at this point. With the right amount of brains, Kuro managed to catch the book in time. Now it was Kitsune's turn. She vigilantly climbed down the tree, past Kuro and another large gap between the two foxes.

Kuro meows again and drops the book, letting Kitsune catch it. Once that was done, Kuro climbs to the bottom of the tree and was on the ground now, giving another signal to the brown fox above him.

Kitsune drops the orange book and Kuro catches it, allowing Kitsune to make her way down to the ground and purrs happily. The two foxes stride their way back to their companionable masters, with Kuro holding Kakashi's orange book and Kitsune by his side.

Kakashi was completely bewildered and blown away that those two foxes could formulate a plan like that through their usual antics. Kakashi was also extremely proud of Kuro for doing something like that.

Kuro meowed joyfully and sat down with Kakashi's book still in his mouth. Kakashi kneeled in front of the black fox and allowed Kuro to give him his book back, "good boy Kuro," once retrieved his book, Kakashi patted the black fox gently, allowing him to climb up his arm and sit on his shoulder again.

Kitsune leapt into Sakura's arms with a meow and purred loudly, "man, I can't believe they actually did that just for you," she exclaimed, patting Kitsune gently like a cat.

Kakashi just smiled gratefully at the black fox on his shoulder and stroked him softly, "yeah, and I'm surprised Kuro and Kitsune didn't damage the cover either," he stated, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and began to walk off, grinning lightly. Right at these moments, Sakura would expect Naruto to jump into the conversation and say something meaningful and wise, but that was now just something that _used_ to happen. Sakura wasn't use to it though; every time it happened like this, Sakura waited. She waited for the blonde who could fix big problems with his words. But now, she waited for no one.

Sakura was a Kunoichi for Kami's sake. A female medic of the Leaf with a slight temper problem. Not only that, but Sakura was nineteen years old, so she had to prove her worth as a mature ninja. It all sounded easy to begin with, but Sakura made everything she did so difficult. She cried like her twelve year old self and sometimes felt that she was still fifteen.

So in some days, Sakura truly didn't feel like the person she was now. Though in her current years at the hospital, Sakura was very successful with her job; helping those in need with their broken bones and internal injuries, Sakura just knew what to do under those circumstances.

Yes, today Sakura was really just having a bad start to the day, and basically like any other day, Sakura would want to cry about it. Sakura mentally shakes her head to keep her cool and focused on the mission.

What was today's mission anyway?

Kakashi waded casually behind Sakura until they were out of the village completely, where he then decided to be part of the actual two-man cell. Kakashi had Icha Icha Paradise in his hand, reading it through the last half of the book, but he couldn't help but notice that Sakura was awfully quiet this morning. Was it from when she was upset and yelled at him? Or was it when Kakashi kissed her, making her stay so calm and collected?

No solution came up and he decided to let the issue slide and resume his reading.

But, the worries didn't stop there. Sakura had another flashback of Naruto's death, coming back to haunt her for the nth time already. Sakura wanted to bury her head in the ground and wait for her heart to stop and die. Or she just wanted her head to stop bringing up the damn subject.

Another hour of walking and Kakashi halted in his steps, "we'll take a break here," he suggested, turning into the forest on his right and hiding behind the trees from the dirt road. Sakura was right behind him and they sat down under the tall trees and had something to eat and relax for a few minutes.

Kakashi could tell how stressed out Sakura was, just by looking at her; she wasn't so relaxed compared to her normal persona.

Before putting his food away, Kakashi became aware of how tired everyone was already. He sighed deeply, '_no one is talking today__…__what an odd start to the day_,' he thought with slight scorn, pulling out his book for a read.

Sakura was almost falling asleep against the tree she was under, but often glanced at what Kakashi was doing. Right before dozing off, she heard a light moaning sound coming from somewhere. Sakura opens her eyes wide and demanded to know what that was.

She found Kuro on top of Kitsune, falling asleep on each other. Sakura watched the two fall asleep before Kuro gave Kitsune a friendly lick on the top of her head. All Sakura could hear was their purring.

Kakashi too saw what was happening between the two foxes and all he could say to that was, "aww, that's so sweet," normally Sakura would be the one to say that, but knowing Kakashi, he probably wanted Sakura to say something for a change.

"Yeah, they're so cute together," Sakura said with a sigh and smiled softly.

Kakashi instantly reacted inside, cringing almost physically at the thought of something like that happening between him and the medic. But why was Kakashi having these constant thoughts about him and Sakura; did he like her in some way? Was it something about Sakura that made Kakashi act this way all the time?

All these questions got Kakashi worried and thinking for a long time; it was starting to get annoying.

The purring of the two foxes was loud and quite soothing to hear. Sakura gazed at Kitsune's happy reaction to the black fox and lay there, hoping this moment would go on forever.

Kakashi looked up at the sky, "we'd better carry on; the next village isn't that far from here and it's also a sight to see," he recommended, finally getting up and putting his bag on.

Sakura does the same, whistling for Kitsune to come along, which she does in an instant and jumps up on the medic's shoulder, looking very happy.

"Lets go then," Sakura stated briefly, walking off ahead of Kakashi and onto the dirt road again. Kuro was right behind Kakashi the second he started walking and the journey continued.

The scenery began to change as well as the environment; Kakashi knew they were close now. The trees got taller until they stretched out so high that Sakura couldn't even see the tops or where they ended. The trees were huge and spaced out but the amount was so much that Sakura wasn't able to see the end of the forest.

Kakashi stopped in his tracks and grinned widely as Sakura continued to walk. The path was very wide and not much different from what they were walking on before. Sakura sensed Kakashi's presence diminish. She turns around, watching the expression on Kakashi's face turn mildly excited.

"Why are we stopping here?" Sakura enquired strangely, lifting an eyebrow.

"Well, the next village is closer than you think," Kakashi started, messing around with the medic.

Sakura was already getting impatient, "okay, enough with the crap Kakashi-sensei, where is it?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

Kakashi chuckled under his breath and looked up, "right above you," Sakura was a bit bemused, wondering of all things Kakashi was talking about, so she looks up. Nothing.

When Sakura returned her irritated glare at Kakashi, he was no longer there, "Sakura-chan, up here," Sakura glances up at Kakashi, who was standing upside-down on a sturdy branch.

"Follow me," Kakashi directed, turning around and walking straight up the tree, "the people here are limb-walkers, so hurry up,"

Kakashi stopped and looked down to Sakura, who was still a bit baffled by so many things at once. Finally following Kakashi's instructions, Sakura ran up the tree using her feet, which had a large amount of chakra sent there to keep her on the tree.

Once by Kakashi's side, the two made their way further up the tree with Kakashi leading the way (he being the only one to know how to get there). With the blue coloured chakra burning at the soles of the two Jounins' feet, Sakura and Kakashi finally stopped on a very thick and strong branch.

"Here we are," Kakashi announced nonchalantly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and staring at a giant wooden sign with a name carved into it.

Sakura couldn't believe she wasn't able to see this from the ground; the name of this village surely had its reasons and meanings.

"The Village Hidden In The Trees, always a nice place to go to on a hot day like this," Kakashi sighed, staring gleefully at all the houses built up against the trees and the people jumping from one tree to the next.

The higher areas of the forest was closer because of all the extending branches reaching out for the sunlight above. There were many people living in the trees and the it seemed almost the same as every other village around, only this one was up in the trees.

Kakashi leaps onto another branch and Sakura could barely keep up with the jumping and almost fell through a patch of camouflaged leaves. With her leg stuck in the hole, it was quite embarrassing to be seen stuck in the ground of a high situated village.

Kakashi turns around to see Sakura struggling to lift herself out of the inconvenient spot, "that's what happened to me when I first came here, only I fell right down," he said, chuckled lightly and glaring at the pink haired Kunoichi.

"Thanks, that made me feel so much more comfortable here," Sakura scoffed, folding her arms across her chest and pouting ridiculously.

Kakashi laughed lightly, watching Sakura nearly sink into the leaves, "here, let me help," he stated, quite seriously, but with a generous grin.

He walked around to the other side of Sakura and grabbed her under both of her arms, "ready?" Kakashi's impromptu question barely gave Sakura time to reply and Kakashi immediately lifted the medic from the leafy hole and Sakura was finally free.

With a sigh, Sakura brushes off the leaves and the dust from her clothes, "thanks," she said. Kakashi shrugged in his aloof manner and walked on ahead of Sakura.

"Lets just hope that won't happen again okay," Kakashi called back, but he was a bit too late for that.

Looking back after the sound of something crunching and crumbling, Kakashi finds Sakura had fallen through again, only this time, Sakura had her hands right on a branch where it was between her legs. Sakura was very uncomfortable at this point, as well as the embarrassing pain she was feeling made it all that much more enjoyable for Kakashi.

Laughing loudly, Kakashi made his way to Sakura's side, tilting his head to observe for a moment, "aren't you glad that you aren't a guy, or that would've been excruciatingly painful for you," Kakashi suggested blatantly, trying to maintain his laughter.

"Well it's not so convenient for women either," Sakura cringed, trying to lift her weight with her arms, which didn't help so much.

"A little help would be nice," Sakura strained, trying to cover up the pain as much as possible.

Kakashi sighed, finally considering to help the poor Kunoichi. Lifted the same way as before, Kakashi help Sakura to her feet where she could stand properly, "are you going to fall this time or do I have to carry you?" Kakashi sarcastically asked.

Sakura stood in thought, making sure she wouldn't lose balance and fall back, "okay then," she snapped back excitably.

Kakashi wanted to say something back to her about his joke but rolled his eyes instead, '_I didn__'__t think she__'__d take the offer,_' he thought, turning around to let Sakura climb up on his back.

Sakura was still wincing at the small but of pain in between her legs but brushed it off with a sigh and slung her arms around the silver haired Jounin's neck. Kakashi had to grab the back of the medic's thighs to hold her up; he felt slightly uncomfortable about it, but he offered Sakura to be carried so he had to pay the price.

Kakashi made sure Sakura's legs were securely wrapped around his waist so Sakura wouldn't slide off him while he walked.

Piggybacked along, Sakura was glad she wasn't walking, now that Kakashi was doing it for her. She grinned widely and rested her head on Kakashi's shoulder until he was somewhere where Sakura could finally stand without falling through something in every step she took.

Kuro and Kitsune were all over Kakashi and Sakura because of the lack of room there was to sit, nor to hang on to; Kitsune and Kuro both ended up on Sakura's shoulders, trying to hang on while Kakashi leapt to the next tree branch.

Kakashi finally stopped in front of a few stores, "okay Sakura-chan, you can get off now," he said, looking over his shoulder to find Sakura very relaxed and calm. She slides off gently, checking to see where she was placing her feet.

Once standing upright, Sakura looked around; there was wooden flooring everywhere now, most likely because of the shops and marketing going around, they don't want people falling through holes like Sakura and hurting themselves when they're after a souvenir.

The two Jounins walk around, watching all the village people run around, along with the children playing. Kuro and Kitsune didn't bother playing with each other, knowing that they'll most likely fall through a hole without a warning, so they stayed on their masters' shoulders.

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**Author's notes**: Woohoo, end of chapter twelve already. I personally liked the part when Sakura fell the second time on the branches and had the tree branches in between her legs; it would most certainly be not so convenient for women if they landed like that. On other points of this story, I'd like to thank you guys (again) so much for reviewing on each chapter, it has given me a new light to my true potential and proves that I have gotten better throughout my writing phase. I'd like to note that I am currently up to chapter fifteen on this fic (over 46000 words and counting thus far). It is amazing to see how fast you guys are catching up with me. But enough of my bragging, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did...now reviews please


	13. Chapter 13: The Start Of Day Five

**Author's notes**: Hey guys, sorry if I'm a bit late with the updates lately- I've been busy trying to finish my story. Anyways, here we have it, Chapter Thriteen. Just to point out that this chapter is a good one (on my opinion though).

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto...I only own Kakashi : P He's in my room at the moment shifty look 

Now enjoy reading this chapter, and after that, please review .

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE START OF DAY FIVE

Kakashi and Sakura made their way into a building with a welcoming sign above it saying 'Motel and Spa'; Sakura had her plans set in this place. The two Jounins rent a room for the night and make their way into the rooms.

It was very luxurious, with a veranda next to the bedrooms and a beautiful sight through the trees to look out at the setting sun. There were two bedrooms; each with a queen sized bedroom. Sakura was now more eager to stay here.

"This place is huge," Sakura exclaimed, staring at everything that she came across in the room.

"Heck yeah," Kakashi replied enthusiastically, putting his bag on his bed.

Kitsune and Kuro were running around playfully after one another, having a ball. Sakura plopped herself on her bed with a huff, sighing deeply and closing her eyes. Kakashi sat there on his bed, gazing at his surroundings and watching Kuro muck around like he always did.

That night, Sakura had her room and Kakashi had his own. But Sakura was still having trouble sleeping:

_The kunai stuck out of the mad blonde's chest and all that could be heard was his heavy breathing and the sound of blood dripping on the wooden floorboards._

"_Sakura-chan…" Naruto gasped, swallowing deeply as the blood seeped from his mouth and dripped from his chin._

_Sakura couldn't believe what she just did, but she had no choice; Naruto would've killed her by accident. Naruto was out of control and all Sakura wanted to do was help him, but it was already too late._

_Naruto's eyes reverted back to their normal blue state; though looking tired and worn out. Naruto's black sharp nails went back to normal. His Kyuubi state was suppressed once more, but Naruto's physical state was on the brink of collapsing._

"_Naruto…" Sakura watched as Naruto stumbled back, looking horridly at the inanimate object pierced into his heart. His stupor changing to the lament of grief and death._

_Naruto fell to his knees, reaching his hand over the blooded wound, gasping desperately for the need for air, but his heart could no longer handle it._

_On its last few beats of pumping blood through his system, Naruto shed tears before falling to the side, saying his last words, "Sa…ku-ra…cha…an…" Naruto lay there, almost motionless and reached out a hand for the medic._

_Sakura fell to her knees, gazing in sheer agony, not able to believe what she was looking at. Her tears already spilt on the floor as Naruto's vision turned to blur and all life was sucked from him._

_Before Sakura could do anything, Sasuke appeared, glaring evilly at the medic. Sakura wanted to move but the fear that struck her rendered her completely immobile and couldn't move._

_Sasuke pulls out his sword and made his few steps towards the pink haired medic, "you did the wrong thing Sakura-chan," he slurred, raising his sword and ready to slice at Sakura's innocent body._

_Sakura closed her eyes tightly and all she could hear was her own blood shed and pain surging through her body…_

Sakura sits up at an instant, sweating heavily from her nightmare. She checked herself, making sure none of what she was dreaming of was actually happening. Only the small sting of something in her waist was all Sakura could tell, but everything else seemed okay.

The medic sighed heavily, wondering why she was always having these dreams about Naruto's death and Sasuke suddenly showing up from nowhere. Worried she'd dream of him again, Sakura slid out from under the blankets and shuffled her feet along the wooden floor of her room and opened the door to the veranda.

It was a peaceful night; the crickets soft but everlasting and the moon high in the sky, giving Sakura's source of light.

Sakura stared aimlessly at the sky, watching as the light breeze tickled the trees above. A tear rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto the railing of the veranda.

Before Sakura could enjoy the blissful evening under the stars, Sakura had another flashback of Naruto's death:

_Sakura was well hidden in the bushes. It looked as though Naruto and Sasuke had only just encountered each other, and Naruto waited for Sasuke to say something, "Sasuke…" Naruto cursed seriously, his blood boiling already._

"_Naruto…" Sasuke replied._

_Sasuke placed his hand on his hip, near his sword, looking as though he would pop up behind Naruto and slice him up, but he didn't do anything._

_The raven haired boy closed his eyes, grinning evilly, "I won't fight you Naruto, I have other business to tend to," he sneered, staring at Naruto with his Sharingan eyes._

_Naruto was frustrated; he wanted to finally fight Sasuke and show him what he was capable of. He narrowed his eyes at his former teammate._

"_But I will leave you a little present that I learnt from Orochimaru-sama," Sasuke formed several hand signs at the speed at which Naruto could not compete with. In a flash, Sasuke appears directly in front of the blonde Jounin and punched him with his glowing purple fi-_

"Another night huh?" said a calm voice from behind.

Sakura turned around to find Kakashi leaning against the terrace doorframe, gazing tiredly at the medic standing before him.

Sakura nodded before staring naively at the Jounin, "did I wake you?" she wondered, hoping she didn't, and besides, Sakura was as quiet as a mouse when she opened the terrace door.

Kakashi made his way to Sakura's side, shaking his head, "nah, I couldn't sleep either, so I decided to come here to freshen up a bit, but then I found you standing here as well," he stated, leaning on the railing and sighing heavily.

"Well that makes two of us then," Sakura replied, shifting her weight to the other leg.

Sakura just gaped at the partially covered sky and sighed before a strange idea came up in her head, "so how have you been coping in the past month?" she asked curiously.

Kakashi sighed, "well, not as good as I'd hoped; usually I would be able to handle the loss of a comrade or teammate, but now I don't even know anymore," Sakura could sense Kakashi's frustration towards the death of Naruto.

Sakura was barely able to handle the loss of her best friend, yet she managed to live so long without any slit wrists or other self-inflicted injuries.

"What about you?" Kakashi asked.

"Put it this way; I wake up every night screaming from my nightmares, I can't eat properly, my work has been slow and Tsunade has been on my case for ages, and it's pissing me off," Sakura vindicated, sighing deeply and rubbing her temples frustratingly.

Kakashi nodded, understanding what Sakura meant, "bad…that's okay, I probably would've expected that from you," right there, Kakashi stopped in his traces of his vision and turned to a real annoyed medic, eyeballing him with scorn, "what's that supposed to mean?" she snapped in question.

Kakashi winced inwardly, hoping Sakura wouldn't hit him, "what I mean is; you usually take things in deeply, affecting you heavily and leaving you mentally and spiritually scarred," Kakashi hoped he had said the right words that time.

"Oh," Sakura calmed down again, staring at the trees around her.

Kakashi sighed quietly, looking to his right to think without a pink haired Kunoichi sticking out in his sight to put him off.

"Kakashi-sensei?" the small voice asked.

"Hm?" Kakashi faced Sakura, staring at her remorseful glimpse.

"I'm sorry for going off at you this morning; I was just so stressed out that I didn't really know what I was doing until I started crying…in your arms," Sakura felt hesitant to go further in the details; it would've made the situation much more awkward between the two Jounins.

Kakashi shook his head, "don't worry, I kind of knew you weren't yourself because I have never seen you so angry at someone like that before," he scratches the back of his head sheepishly and grinned mildly.

Sakura felt ashamed to be seen as someone who was upset and angry all the time. Whenever Sakura cried, it made her feel like she was only ten years old, crying over her big forehead, before Ino showed up and made her feel better.

Kakashi cocked his head sideways to see what Sakura was expressing in her emerald green eyes.

"I just had a thought about this morning," Sakura started.

Kakashi cringed inwardly at what his presumptions were and hoped Sakura wouldn't bring it up. If she did, Kakashi had to think up an excuse to get out of his imprudent plight.

Sakura gave Kakashi a serious look, "why…did you kiss me?" she asked, rubbing her face to rid the deep blush forming on her cheeks.

The dubious look in Kakashi's only visible eye showed exactly what Sakura expected. Kakashi didn't know what to say, "uhh, well…" Kakashi started, looking anywhere but at Sakura.

The silver haired Jounin twiddled his fingers, trying to come up with the best answer, but nothing came up. Kakashi sighed, "I don't know," he stared warily at the trees before him, faintly hearing village scouts calling to one another.

Sakura raised an eyebrow; she wasn't convinced. She stared at Kakashi, still waiting for an answer, which she wasn't going to get on the audible motive. Kakashi gave Sakura a look of uncertainty, "I honestly don't know why; all I know is that something in here took over," he pointed at his chest.

Somehow, Sakura actually believed him, but at that, she blushed deeply. Lucky it was dark or Kakashi would've definitely seen that redness stick out like a sore thumb.

"Maybe we should get back to bed; it's already quite late and we need to rest up for tomorrow," Kakashi recommended, turning around and slowly making his way back inside.

Sakura was hesitant to actually return to her bed and sleep. She walked inside, allowing Kakashi to close the veranda door. He watched Sakura stride to the couch in the centre of the room. The medic sat down and attested a look of slight fear and worry.

Kakashi stood there, waiting for something, "Sakura-chan," he almost whispered.

Sakura gazed off to her left, away from Kakashi and sighed, "I don't want to dream of _him_ again; it's just too painful to bear," she clenched her fists, trying so hard not to shed tears again in front of her former teacher, it just didn't feel right anymore.

Kakashi sighed, setting his gaze to the floor, before leisurely making his way to the couch and sitting down on the other end of said thing next to Sakura. He reached his arms out and let them rest against the back of the couch.

"But you don't have to dream of the worst things that have happened in your life," Kakashi started, trying to get Sakura to look at him.

Finally, Sakura made eye contact with the older Jounin, trying to guess where he was going at with this. Her eyelids were getting heavy and she yawned longingly. Kakashi just stared lazily at the medic before saying, "you can lie down and rest your head on my lap if you want," Sakura gaped at the serious look she received from Kakashi and decided to take the offer.

She lay down hesitantly, trying not to look at the Jounin she was about to rest her head on. She gently rest her head on Kakashi's lap, trying not to blush and relaxed herself on the man's thigh.

Kakashi sat there, very calm and stared at the sleepy medic on his lap and finally opted to his words, "when I first became a Jounin, I lost a comrade, who was also my best friend," he paused, relapsing through his memories and continued, "after his death, I had nightmares about him constantly and I was falling apart, but then I thought why I kept thinking about him that way in all those negative ways, so I decided to think back to the good times we had together as a team," Sakura stared at what ever was in front of her and listened intently.

"After all that trouble of pain and suffering, I told myself that he was my best friend and even though we had a few rough times together, he would never want to hurt those close to him and I never had nightmares about him like that again; only the positive ones remained,"

Kakashi occasionally moved his hands around with his dialect and stared at Sakura once more. Sakura remained silent, perpetuating any signs of tiredness to stay awake.

"So what I'm basically saying is that you should start thinking positive towards Naruto; thinking back to all the good times you had together as well as the fun times," Kakashi pulled his arms in and rubbed his wrists jadedly.

Kakashi leaned forward without moving his legs and noticed Sakura had fallen asleep, '_I wonder if she was even listening to me from the beginning_,' he thought, sighing to himself and leaning back on the couch.

Kakashi looked around for something to keep him occupied and saw a small handle on the side of the couch. As curious as a cat, Kakashi reached down and pulled on the handle to reveal a small drawer with blankets in them. Actually they were couch protectors, but Kakashi saw them as blankets.

He pulled it out and draped it over Sakura's body, tucking it nicely under her arms. Kakashi grinned to himself as he watched Sakura dream. He pulled a pillow that was under his thigh and placed on the edge of the couch, resting his head on it and sighed.

He moved his legs to the side so that his back wouldn't get stiff in the morning and lie down almost straight and keeping Sakura on his thigh. Kakashi gently moved Sakura towards him so she wouldn't slide off the couch while she slept and lie more comfortably.

With Sakura lying almost completely on top of Kakashi, with most of her upper body resting on his chest. She absentmindedly moved her hands from her face, along Kakashi's chest and on his right shoulder, making Kakashi hold his breath.

Kakashi forced himself to breathe normally again after watching Sakura's delicate movements over him. She moaned softly. Kakashi didn't do anything, he was just staring at her sleeping state and having a few imaginations, which soon turned into problematic concerns.

Was Kakashi falling for his former female student? Sakura did seem quite attractive and alluring, but what did Kakashi truly feel towards her? But Kakashi couldn't; it would be too wrong. Kakashi was a thirty-three year old male ninja, who avoided any such relationship all his life. Sakura was only nineteen; it made things so complicated.

There was a fourteen year difference as well and Tsunade…what would Tsunade think? What would the whole village think? Would they approve this relationship?

Kakashi couldn't think of that right now, so he pushed those subjects of worry aside for now and tried to catch up on his sleep. Not to mention the beautiful medic sleeping on him, making Kakashi feel glad as a matter of fact.

The next morning, Kakashi flickered his eyes open to only find a lock of pink hair in his face. Thank kami for masks, Kakashi was glad he didn't accidentally breathe in the hair and choke on it; that would've been an embarrassing way to go for the famous Sharingan Kakashi.

Kakashi lay there, trying to wake up properly. He lifted his only moveable arm and shifted the long pink hair from his cryptic face. Kakashi sighed heavily, though it was hard due to the amount of weight pressed against his chest; it made it almost difficult to breathe properly.

He looked down to find Sakura completely on top of him and her face right by his. Blushing deeply, Kakashi observed the situation; Sakura had her arms almost wrapped around his neck, and Kakashi's left arm was tightly in between the couch and Sakura's waist.

This certainly was the most awkward situation Kakashi had ever been in in his life. He finally decided it was time to take a shower, so he tried to pull himself upright on the couch without waking Sakura or pull her with him. Kakashi gently removed Sakura's arms from him and placed her comfortably on the couch, where he was now standing on the cold floor.

Kakashi quickly rearranged the blanket, making sure it was on Sakura properly and dashed off to the shower.

Sakura breathed deeply and finally woke up, opening her eyes slightly and looking around at what her vision would allow.

'_What time is it?_' Sakura thought, not getting up from her snug position and stared at anything in front of her.

Sakura finally remembered what happened the night before; she could smell Kakashi's scent on the couch, making her wonder, '_what on earth happened last night?_' she thought again.

After trying to establish what was actually going on, Sakura just lay back down in her cosy position, staring lazily at the coffee table in front of her.

Dozing off again, Sakura closed her eyes, slowly letting her imagination take over her mind. Her thoughts led to good times to Naruto to Kakashi all of a sudden. Though it felt strange to think of Kakashi in general, Sakura just let everything flow together.

Sakura was aware of her stomach filling with butterflies at the thought of Kakashi doing practically unthinkable things. Almost dreading to the mental image of Kakashi almost completely naked made Sakura open her eyes from her baffling imaginations.

Before Sakura had thought that everything was better and give off a sigh of relief; it actually got worse. Not only did Sakura just think about a half naked Kakashi, but she was in fact staring at that particular man with a fluffy white towel wrapped around his waist.

Completely stunned, Sakura just gaped at the silver haired Jounin, or well…most of him, "morning…" Sakura forced, trying to stay as calm as she could.

"Morning. Sorry if I woke you, but I believe I left my headband here," Kakashi stated sheepishly, pointing at the top of the couch where the black headband hung.

Sakura glanced at the metal plated fabric on the edge of the couch then returned her bewildered glare at the older Jounin, "d-don't worry sensei, you didn't wake me up," she gulped, pushing down the lump in her throat. What made the situation even more irritating and embarrassing for Sakura was that Kakashi had his towel wrapped ridiculously low on his hips, making Sakura's face turn a deeper shade of red.

Not only that, but that near naked figure was coming closer to Sakura, causing her to nearly faint from anxiety. She leaned back from her position to get away from the wet Jounin and gulped again.

'_Oh god, why me?_' Sakura asked herself, wishing she could do something to resolve the matter.

Kakashi grinned, watching Sakura's expressions turn sour. With one hand desperately holding his towel in place and the other holding his forehead protector, Kakashi stared strangely at the tired looking medic, wondering of all things she would be so tensed up about but shrugged instead.

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**Author's notes**: Hehehe, I love awkward moments; Kakashi and Sakura are just the perfect victims for it insert evil grin here . I liked this chapter, but I love all of my chapters because I worked hard writing them. I was told by one of my friends that I could be an excellent writer some day if that's what I wanted to become and an anime artist because of all the ideas I come up with. About this chapter; I'd like to point out that I'm trying to cut back on all the flashbacks, but if Sakura is either having a nightmare or an angsty flashback, then there will most likely be a flashback scene written out (all bloody and nasty with Sasuke being the bastard and rubbing in Sakura's face with his sword). But enough drabbling, hope you liked this chapter, now reviews please 


	14. Chapter 14: The Good Old Days

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto; he is only kind enough to let us fic writers to use his characters for our own means of use. I have no intentions in making any profit of this story.

**Author's notes**: Wow, we are really getting close to catching up with me; I'd better pick up the pace. Yes, here we have it, chapter fourteen; I like this chapter because well... the title says it all, and I'm sure you Naruto fans out there will know what I mean. I am currently working on chapter sixteen and I am hoping on finishing this story before school starts, otherwise the chances of me being able to upload or complete new chapters would be very slim, due to the study that will be placed upon me at school. Right now, we are well over half way (I guess), but that doesn't mean we are almost at the end. Sure, we may be another chapter closer, but we are still in the process of actually getting there,

I would like to thank everyone for their support so far throughout this story, especially ifItwasnt4KakashiIwouldLoveYou. I hope you enjoy this chapter because I think it's quite funny if you have the same amount of sense of humour as I do. Have fun and review this chapter after please ..

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Sakura couldn't help but glare at Kakashi's body. Looking from one thing to the next, Sakura just couldn't help herself. She stared at Kakashi's calm and lazy face, which was still masked; curse that mask. Sakura then led her eyes down from the Jounin's wet and silver hair to his chest. It bared a few scars from the many missions he had been on, along with the near death situations he was involved in. Other than that, Sakura was nearly melting at the sight.

Abs, abs, abs. Sakura wasn't able to go past those. Once again, a few scars were revealed, but it showed that Kakashi was strong and managed to survive many near death battles over the years. Kakashi was well toned around…well…everywhere; not to mention the ANBU tattoo on the upper arm of his left shoulder.

Gazing and staring, Sakura just found it hard to peal her eyes away from the older Jounin. Examining every detail of the man; Sakura had to admit it to those fan girls back in Konoha, Kakashi was basically a god and completely irresistible to all women who spoke long conversations with him. Sakura gaze shifted downwards, past his abs and on the towel and what would lie underneath it if she were to 'accidentally' rip it off and, oops; too much information.

Sakura abruptly rubbed her eyes, and then her mouth in case she might've been drooling, which, fortunately for her, she wasn't.

Changing the subject slightly, Sakura relaxed herself on the couch from where she slept and asked, "What happened last night?"

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly at the question. Yes, the question sounded so crazy, but Kakashi had to say something rather than walk away from his former student and avoid the question.

"Uhh, well…you…had your hands all over me while you slept," Kakashi looked off to the side; trying not to blush but it couldn't be helped.

Sakura's face flushed even more right after those words and wanted to hit herself for doing so, "I…I did?" her voice squeaked, showing her embarrassment even more.

Kakashi nodded, scratching his head with the metal plate of his headband, "yeah…" he muttered, before Sakura gave him a ominous look as though she had seen a ghost. Kakashi raised an eyebrow of ambiguity before realising what she meant by that expression, "d-don't worry, I didn't take advantage of you or anything," he stated quickly, holding up one hand as if someone pointed a gun at him.

Sakura's face turned bitter at the thought of what Kakashi had just pointed out, "well that's a relief," she sighed awkwardly, trying to hide the blush on her face with a silly grin.

She looked away, sighing uneasily with all the stress that was placed upon her; not to mention that former silver haired teacher standing in front of her with nothing but a towel around his waist, didn't make things any better for the poor medic.

"Well…sorry," Sakura said diffidently, scratching the bridge of her nose anxiously.

Sakura tugged at the blanket that covered her through the night and pulled it over her bust, sighing for the nth time already.

Kakashi felt the towel that was wrapped slackly around his waist loosen slowly the more he stood there. He tried hard to both keep the towel in place as well as to not look like an idiot and look cool. Kakashi placed his other free hand that had his headband against his hip, getting bored already.

"I'd uhh, better get dressed," Kakashi reminded himself that he was standing in front of his former student with nothing but a towel around his waist.

"Yeah, please do that," Sakura smirked, removing the covers and sitting up.

The Copy Nin turned around and made his way back into the bathroom to change into his day clothes and resume the mission. What he didn't really expect and neither did Sakura herself was that she was having a good look at what would be behind the towel that was around Kakashi's backside.

The second Kakashi was out of sight and inside the bathroom, Sakura cursedly plopped herself back down with her face into the couch pillows, "what is wrong with me?" she mumbled nasally.

Sakura found the morning strength to pull herself upright and rub the sleep from her eyes properly. The first thing Sakura would've wanted to discuss something with anyone near her would be that wretched mask that hid Kakashi's mysterious face.

Oh yes, Sakura had a few grudges towards that piece of cloth, and she wouldn't mind removing it for once in her life. Wait a minute. Once? Sakura remembered now that she had tried with the help of Sasuke and Naruto to see what was behind the mask of their teacher before, but that was back when they were only twelve.

Sakura had to find a way to get Kakashi to take his mask off or for that Copy Nin to drop his guard at least; it'd give Sakura a good opportunity to see something new from her former sensei.

Those thoughts gave Sakura a brilliant idea, '_that__'__s it_,' Sakura thought, raising an eyebrow mischievously and grinning sneakily. She gets up quickly, rearranging her shorts and heading to her room to change.

Kakashi rubs his bare face tiredly as he let the water run down both sides of his neck, "ahh, I really needed that," he sighed, staring at his mirror reflection in front of him. Casually, Kakashi pulls the small plug from the sink and let the water run down. He dries his face gently and pulls up his mask.

All ready and clean, Kakashi opens the door of the bathroom and made sure he left things reasonably tidy before leaving it and shut the door behind him with Kuro on his shoulder, purring as usual.

No sign of Sakura.

Kakashi saw the couch tidied up and everything seemed as it should be, except for Sakura, who was no where to be found. He scanned the opened room for any signs of life. Looking from right to left, Kakashi looked around: veranda door, hallway to Sakura's room and closed door to the kitchen, coffee table and couch, passageway to the kitchen and the apartment door.

"Hmm," Kakashi placed his hand under his chin in thought and stared aimlessly at the passageway to the kitchen.

"Another entrance to trouble," sighing for the nth time already, Kakashi waded to the kitchen entrance, hoping nothing would ruin his day.

Before seeing anything inside, Kakashi could hear things being placed of surfaces and decided to be the inspector and check it out. Once all visuals were made, it was clear now that Sakura was up to something.

Kakashi watched as Sakura set the last few things on the kitchen table before receiving a smile from the pink haired medic. Noting the obvious that was breakfast being courteously laid out for the two of them, but mainly Kakashi; he smelt trouble.

"Okay…what do you want?" Kakashi started languidly, folding his arms over his chest in suspicion.

Sakura hid her arms behind her back and stared innocently at the Copy Nin before her, "nothing, just being the nice person for once," she replied, grinning like an idiot and hoping Kakashi would take the bait.

Without any further redo, Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the table, staring hungrily at the food that was in front of him. It looked good, it smelt good, but was it trustable? Or was it filled with some kind of medicine that made him fall asleep on the spot or paralyse him temporarily. These were the things Kakashi hated the most; anticipation and things he couldn't trust, even if it was something he had known for very long.

Breakfast was set and Sakura decided to join the other Jounin, "well…don't just sit there, go for it," Sakura encouraged, though trying not to give her scheme away with small boosts of support for the Copy Nin.

Kakashi eyed the food, "umm, no thanks, I'm not really that hungry," he stated firmly to his riposte and crossed his arms again. Before Sakura could say anything to encourage Kakashi to eat, Kakashi's stomach growled loudly, demanding food.

"Sounds like you _are_ hungry," Sakura grinned widely, "just have a bite, I'm sure you'll like it,"

Kakashi exchanged glances from the food in front of him to the pink haired medic across the table from him, "well…okay then," he finally gave up.

Sakura was ready to yip around in utter joy in her accomplishment but held it in until the true moment was revealed, or in this Kakashi's face would be revealed. Sakura had to keep in mind that Kakashi was very smart and usually never let down his guard; not to mention his cunning and sly ways to get back at people for trying to trick him.

"Itadakimasu," Sakura announced happily, grabbing her cutlery and ready to dig into her breakfast.

Kakashi stared a moment more, hesitant to actually eat something that Sakura specially made for him. Inwardly he shrugged and picked up a fork, "hm hmm, how nostalgic," he stated almost teasingly.

Sakura looked up in surprise, speculating what Kakashi was talking about, but remained silent. The only thing Sakura replied with was a smile and a light giggle and resumed her breakfast.

Without giving her true position away while eating, Sakura carefully switched her gaze from her food to Kakashi's face. It was now or never, Kakashi was actually going to remove his mask, finally. Sakura had her previous thoughts from seven years ago: fat lips (shudders), buck teeth (shudders) and the small mouth (where did that one come from? Shudders).

Sakura eyed Kakashi intensely while he slipped his fingers under his mask where it covered his nose. Sakura tried to make sure she looked occupied with her food and quickly took a bite from her toast.

Kakashi was slow sliding his mask down and Sakura was basically crapping herself by just watching him, but before things could get more intense, Sakura's bladder bell was ringing awfully loud.

Noooo.

Sakura was busting to go to the loo now and she still wanted to see Kakashi's face. Of all the times Sakura needed the toilet, it had to be in the most desperate positions and right now.

'_Cha! This is absolutely insane! Why now when Kakashi is about to show off his face!_' Inner Sakura was infuriated right now and Sakura really needed to go badly.

Sakura didn't want to shuffle around for the finale and for Kakashi's face to be revealed and only let Sakura need to change her clothes right after. Her urge to pee was getting worse and Sakura wasn't going to let that happen.

Finally, "umm, excuse me for a moment," Sakura bolted out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, leaving Kakashi alone with his food.

Sakura sat down and instantly sighed in frustration, "shit…" was all she could say.

Doing this would be harder than what Sakura thought, and obviously with three people was hard too. Naruto and Sasuke were tough and smart in the usual case but they weren't even able to remove their teacher's damn mask; how humiliating.

Sakura washed her hands, staring aimlessly at the mirror where her reflection stared right back at her. With all the stupidity that had been inflicted on Sakura, she leaned forward and let her forehead hit the pane of her reflection and sighed heavily, cursing herself again.

After she had finished up, Sakura quickly made her way back into the kitchen and sat down opposite from Kakashi, "sorry about that, just had to take care of something," she said, grinning sheepishly and trying not to blush.

Now Sakura was ready to see what was behind the mask of her former teacher, but there was a problem; Kakashi had long finished with his breakfast and just sat there with a perpetual grin on his hidden face. Sakura was so pissed off right now, '_note to self: plan toilet breaks and think ahead_,' she huffed at her thoughts, taking a bite of her toast again.

Kakashi began to chuckle lightly to himself, "how nostalgic indeed," it was true, Kakashi had seen what Sakura had in store for him and it obviously didn't work on him.

Sakura clenched her fists in annoyance, "how the _hell_ did you know what I was trying to do?" she asked firmly, finishing her food quickly.

Kakashi sat there thoughtfully, tilting his head back a bit before chuckling loudly, "Sakura-chan, I'm an elite Jounin of the Leaf and I've known you far too long to not see what you were planning," he casually crossed his arms over his chest and stared lazily at the medic before him.

Sakura didn't want to admit that Kakashi was right, "ugh, I guess that's true," she muttered in defeat, rolling her eyes longingly.

"But," Kakashi started decisively, "I have to hand it to you that you're still willing enough to see what I really look like," he grinned widely. Sakura sighed as she rested her face on her hand on the table before saying, "so I can see it?" with a bit of luck, Kakashi would be convinced enough to do it.

"Are you kidding me? No way am I going to spoil the fun now. It's far too amusing for it to end so soon," Kakashi leaned back on his chair, grinning like an idiot.'

Sakura huffed under her irritation and just eyeballed the other Jounin, waiting for something to happen. Kakashi remained silent with his small smile still intact. He had a pokerfaced expression and was actually waiting for Sakura to start something up with a yell or argument.

Finally, Kakashi was getting bored; even at such an early stage of the morning, and decided to wrap it up with a decent comment, "but on the other hand," he started slowly, "I'm flattered that you decided to make me breakfast, and not to mention it tasted so good,"

Sakura sensed the tease in his voice and pouted uncontrollably, though glad Kakashi liked her cooking, "thanks, I tried my best to make an effort," she murmured with a soft smile. Kakashi smiled back and stood up, grabbing a few things and carrying them to the sink to wash them.

"Oh, I'll do that for you," Sakura quickly got up from her seat to take the plates from the older Jounin.

Kakashi stood there with Sakura rather close to him, insisting on taking the plates from his hands, "no thanks, I'll do them," he protested, leaning his head over the medic from his tall stance.

Sakura crossed her arms and glared right back up at the silver haired man, "sensei, I prepared the breakfast, so I clean what I set out," Sakura objected, folding her arms over her chest.

"But you've been working all morning, so just let me take over for you," again with the remonstrations, Kakashi didn't want Sakura to do all the work and make him look too lazy to do anything at all.

Sakura sighed, rubbing the back of her neck, "why are we fighting over who gets to do the dishes; it's not something I do very often, but I feel the need that I should," she wondered, looking off to the side.

Kakashi grunted lightly, not seeing the real reason to it all either, "okay here's an idea, how about we both do the dishes, that way we get the job done quickly and we'll both be happy," he suggested thoughtfully.

"Fine then, I'll dry them and put them away while you wash," Sakura announced, smiling sweetly at the Copy Nin and making her way to the kitchen sink.

Kakashi followed the pink haired medic and ran the water. Sighing again, Kakashi rolled up his sleeves of his shirt and began to wash the plates, handing each to Sakura after they were clean.

"So…" Kakashi began half-heartedly, trying to pick up the right things to say, "why are you still wondering what my face looks like?" he asked at last, handing another plate to Sakura.

Sakura paused in her tasks in thought of a way to answer that question, "I guess it's something that I still haven't really accomplished in my life quite yet," she deadpanned, putting a few plates in the cabinets beside her.

"So your goal in life is to see my face?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Not exactly, although that would be an interesting life story,"

"But I guess it has to do with taking Naruto and Sasuke's place as little mischievous brats you used to call students," Sakura grinned evilly, putting another plate away.

Kakashi arched an eyebrow, washing the last dirty plate and moving on to the cutlery, "you guys did try under any cost to see my face, though you never got to see it," he mused, trying to find the knife he dropped in the water just before.

It was true, Kakashi had found the pranks his team tried to pull on him rather amusing to watch from afar or turn the tables on, but he did try to let them have a chance in a little success in their young lives, by letting them get very close before Kakashi would spoil it for them in the end.

Kakashi finally cleaned the last few things of the dishes and unplugged the sink and dried his hands, "I have to hand it to you; you are one determined woman," he said, looking around for black fox companion, who seemed to be no where to be found.

"Thanks sensei…" Sakura spat, nudging her former teacher in the side and walked off.

Sakura had to think of another way to see Kakashi's face without him really knowing. She knew Kakashi was super smart and would most likely find out what she'd be planning, so she had to come up with something completely unexpected and original, '_come on Sakura, think. Think. What could be a way to see his face?_' she wondered, sitting down on the couch, which still had the faint scent of Kakashi on it, mixed with hers too.

Deep in thought, Sakura had to come up with a better plan than feeding Kakashi, because it never worked and Kakashi saw it coming. But what could she do? She could take him to the hot springs but they'd be separated due to the whole sexist thing going on and they wouldn't see each other; though that was kind of the point. Taking him out to lunch could be an option, but Kakashi messed that up the last time Sakura and her teammates tried that. She could take the mask off by force, but Kakashi was much stronger than she was and would presumably outwit her in anything she tried to do. All this was just recapping on what she, Sasuke and Naruto did back when they were kids, and it didn't work; even with the effort of teamwork.

Moaning softly, Sakura kicked her feet up on the coffee table and thought again, '_what can I do?_' she thought, thinking over any possible choices of action she could take.

Sakura finally had a few brainstorms of ideas; totally new and pulled right out of the blue, '_I could take his spare masks and hide them somewhere_,' she suggested inwardly, placing her finger on her chin thoughtfully.

'_Ugh, but I bet Kakashi-sensei will just find a way to make things harder for me to do that,_' Sakura thought, looking around the room for motivation, '_I know, I__'__ll just have to get close enough to take the mask off when he__'__s asleep_,' grinning evilly, Sakura made herself some personal arrangements to get in reach of the older Jounin's mask.

Almost hooraying in utter joy and determination, Sakura knew she could pull this off, along with that blasted mask that only covered the lower portion of her former teacher's face. This had to be an easy score for Sakura now that she knew what to expect at every cost; it was a trial of success and accomplishment without the humiliation.

As the afternoon went to a glorious start, Sakura was scheming her little plots. She definitely felt like her younger self again; always wandering around to look for something exciting to transpire on a boring day.

It was actually an oppressive day; Sakura was really bored because they decided to stay another night at the resort place so they would be more prepared the next day and have a fresh start. With nothing to do but sit around the apartment and plot, Sakura wanted to get Kakashi to do something with her as a sort of entertainment, before she finally got an idea to keep herself occupied.

Getting to her feet, Sakura looked around the room for the silver haired Jounin she still called 'sensei', "Kakashi-sensei," she beckoned calmly, walking around the apartment room for the older man.

Sakura quietly made her way to Kakashi's bedroom door; it was closed and Sakura had a small hunch about where he was at last, "Kakashi-sensei?" she wondered in a small whisper, opening the door slowly and pushing it until the man's bed was visible.

Sakura paused at an instant at the sight she was looking at; Kakashi snoozing so sound on the bed. It was enough to make Sakura go 'aww'. But enough staring, Sakura wondered why Kakashi would be sleeping at such an hour; maybe because she kept him up for most of the night and caused him to get tired later that day. The medic slowly made her way to Kakashi's bedside, wanting to wake him up but then again wanting to let him rest.

The thought finally came up. With Kakashi sound asleep, Sakura had the perfect opportunity to take her plan into action. Getting a little closer to the silver haired man, Sakura gulped, hoping this plan would work. Steadily and silently, Sakura sat down on the bed, watching Kakashi's facial expressions after every move she made.

Just to be on the safe side, Sakura waved her hand in front of the older Jounin's face to see if he would react in any way and fortunately for Sakura, he didn't move an inch, but that didn't mean Sakura could drop her guard.

Wiping the sweat from her hands on her top, Sakura reached closer to Kakashi's masked face. Pausing almost every intense moment, Sakura held her breath, checking for any other signs of movements such as Kakashi's hands. Resuming slowly, the pink haired medic pushed the lump down her throat and paused again, ogling the sleeping Jounin carefully.

Very carefully, Sakura reached for the man's face; allowing herself to take her time without wasting it. She touches the mask fabric; pausing inattentively and staring at the silver haired Jounin. Kakashi looked so peaceful while he slept; as if all his troubles had been thrown out the window, not to mention he looked so calm too.

Without further redo, Sakura mentally shook her head from her small imaginations and continued on the task at hand. She slipped her fingers under the mask and waited, contemplating over what her next move would be. Gulping again, Sakura gripped onto the mask properly and slowly started to slide it down; switching glances from her actions to Kakashi's lone visible eye and nothing was happening.

Was this it? Was Sakura finally going to see her former teacher's face for the first time? Sakura's heart leapt to her throat and felt it beating heavily as the adrenalin pumped through her veins and the sweat slowly running down the side of her face.

The time was now. Sakura had to see what his face looked like, otherwise it'll never happen. Her heart was beating faster as Sakura slowly pulled the mask down, not even barely over the nose yet. Before Sakura could go on, she noticed Kakashi's eye twitching abruptly and before she knew it, she was stopped and couldn't move her hands.

Sakura gradually shifted her gaze to her right arm to find a hand tightly gripped onto it. Busted. What could she do now? Sakura gulped deeply, staring right into Kakashi's dark eye, wondering quickly of an excuse to get her out of the mess she pulled herself in.

Before Sakura could speak, Kakashi interrupted, "having fun?" he raised an eyebrow seriously and sighed lightly.

Sakura instantly let go of the lip of the mask and tried to find a valid plea, "uhh…umm…I-I'm sorry…?" she trailed off a bit, trying not to look into Kakashi's only visible dark eye.

"Nice try," Kakashi stated firmly, sitting up and readjusting his mask with his only available hand.

Kakashi still had his not so subtle grip on the medic's wrist and just glared at her feebly. He shook his head disappointingly and sighed again, "when will you learn Sakura-chan?" he slurred, shaking his head still.

Sakura gave the man an odd grin, opening her mouth but nothing came out, until she shrugged, "I-I try…" Kakashi didn't look convinced one bit and finally let go of Sakura's wrist, making her rub them uncomfortably.

"Oh well, it's just one of those things you can't let go so easily, huh," Kakashi placed his hand on the top of the medic's head and ruffled her hair teasingly.

"_Senseeiiii,_" Sakura moaned irritably, hitting the older Jounin's arm away and started pouting childishly with Kakashi just chuckling mildly.

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**Author's notes**: Hehehe, when will Sakura learn? I guess old habbits die hard for our little kunoichi. I just had to bring back this subject (if anyone has seen Episode 101) when Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke are trying to see what Kakashi's been hiding all his life, but I do wonder if Kakashi will eventually show Naruto and Sakura his face after all these years (which has only been about 3 so far). But back to my story, Sakura _nearly_ got to see Kakashi's face, but Kakashi was too good for her hehehe.

**Up next**: Boredom gets Sakura to spar for once and things get interesting in the battle. What happens between Sakura and Kakashi? Find out next: Chapter Fifteen: Lost in Faith. Hope you liked the chapter, now for the reviews please.


	15. Chapter 15: Lost In Faith

**Author's notes**: Chapter fifteen YAAAY!!! Getting closer . I have to admit that I definately won't finish the story today coz well...school starts tomorrow and things are going to get slow from then on, so if I update ages from the last one I put on then I am _really_ sorry. Still, I don't want to end this story so soon because of my educational needs; I can still do homework and work on my story at the same time XD. But yeah, I'll try to pitch in whenever I can and get the story done asap. Thanks again for reviewing on this story, love you guys for it, and hope you like this chapter; the title is a bit weird but I think it should make sense once you read through it properly. Enjoy .

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN: LOST IN FAITH

Kakashi sighed, folding his arms over his chest and made himself comfortable on the bed he slept on earlier, "Sakura-chan," he started, quite seriously.

"Hm?" Sakura now had full attention to her former teacher, though still rubbing her wrist from when Kakashi had unintentionally held them a bit too tight.

"Why do you still call me by 'sensei'?" Kakashi asked, now far away from the serious act and more into curiosity and frustration.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know, I'm just use to calling you sensei that I forget that I'm not your student anymore," she raised an eyebrow, waiting for Kakashi to say something else.

"Why do you worry about that so much?" Sakura continued, not having the patience to wait.

Kakashi sighed, looking a bit worried and above all, aggravated, "well it…it uhh…" he trailed off, trying to remember the reason for the killer of a question, why? Kakashi finally found his expression, "it makes me seem _old_," he despised that word 'old', it made it seem like he wasn't capable of doing anything anymore when people called him 'old'.

Sakura just laughed loudly, unable to catch Kakashi's honesty and seriousness. When she finally gained control of her mirth, she said, "but that doesn't mean you _are_ old; you're only in your early thirties, that's not old at all," she gave Kakashi a good pat on the back and smiled widely.

Kakashi looked over to the smiling medic and grinned back, "I guess you're right," he sighed, his eye arching up to a smile.

"But, I do have an idea for you to prove that you aren't old," Sakura started suggestively, grinning still.

Kakashi blinked twice, allowing Sakura the time to talk, "oh yeah, and what would your 'brilliant' idea be?" he asked, ogling the medic suspiciously.

"A sparring session to pass the time?" Sakura opted.

"A fight? With you?" Kakashi rose an eyebrow, not really catching the real deal here.

Sakura nodded with a smile, "yeah, I haven't been able to fight since Naruto died so why not spar with you. You know, just a challenge to see how strong we've become over the years we've known each other," she exclaimed enthusiastically.

Kakashi thought for a moment before finally coming to a decision, "you're on. Lets go," Kakashi declared, leaping to his feet and dashing out the door.

Sakura was surprised, '_never seen Kakashi so fervent before, well__…__not since Naruto gave him the latest Icha Icha volume after his three year absence_,' she said inwardly, with Inner Sakura punching the air in victory, '_Cha! Cha! Victory is ours_,' she whooped in utter determination. Sakura grinned again and made her way out the bedroom and outside to meet Kakashi.

Right before making any further movements out in the open areas of the Tree village, Sakura had to keep in mind about the last time she frolicked about on the unsteady patches of walkable ground; falling through several branches as she went was not the way to be welcomed to the village. Cautiously, Sakura stepped easily on the strong areas of the branches and leaf filled patches where holes would await to be fallen through.

"This way Sakura-chan, there's a small area where we can train," Kakashi waved his arm lazily in the direction where he was heading and Sakura soon followed him towards the training area.

"Come on, I'm sure you can do better than that," Kakashi exclaimed, hopping from one branch to the next.

Sakura strained herself to push harder to keep up the elite Jounin, but they've been at it for over two hours straight, "I can do better," she shouted back, finally concentrating her chakra to her feet and speeding up to the silver haired Copy Nin.

Kakashi knew this would make Sakura determined as well as agitated. He chuckled to himself and hopped to the next tree limb, being careful not to fall or it would've been a long way down.

The silver haired Jounin finally slowed down enough for Sakura to catch up to him. With all the blood pumping through her veins and making things more exciting for her, Sakura didn't stop or slow down. In fact, Sakura was trying to speed up with her fists glowing in her light blue chakra colour and aimed right for Kakashi's head.

With almost the full intent to actually kill her former teacher, Sakura jumped up from her branch, bounced off from a tree's body and pressed her weight towards Kakashi.

"Uhh, Sakura-chan…" Kakashi warned, only barely able to see Sakura's fighting style up close. A bit too close for him to nearly get killed.

Swiftly, Kakashi ducked. It felt very slow as Sakura's fist went over Kakashi's head, nicking his silver mane by a small portion. Not only that, but the rest of Sakura was still going for him. Kakashi shifted his entire body down and away and let Sakura fly right over him; basically watching everything go over with detail.

Sakura knew Kakashi would've tried something like that and swung her legs at him. Expertly though, Kakashi blocked it and pushed it out of the way of his reach, causing Sakura to tumble down. But Sakura was a medic ninja for Kami's sake and Sakura wasn't about to give up that easily.

Sakura allowed herself to fall momentarily enough so her timing would be just right, and with luck, Kakashi wouldn't do anything to prevent her from saving herself. Sakura briskly latched her hand firmly on a branch and using her chakra, she spun herself back up the tree and landed safely on another branch not too far from Kakashi.

Both panting from their little sparring session, Sakura was trying to figure out what Kakashi was thinking; he had been acting kind of strange since they headed for the trees to train together. It must've been the excitement driving through the Jounin's veins.

"That was pretty good," Kakashi praised with a light grin on his masked face.

Sakura returned to her fighting stance and awaited Kakashi's next move. Looking down from the branch she was standing on, she hadn't really noticed how high they actually were until now.

"Now it's my turn," Kakashi opposed seriously, noting the obvious smirk on Sakura's face.

Kakashi leapt from his branch and headed straight for Sakura with instinct to knock his former student out; though he didn't really want to plan on that to happen. Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, Kakashi attempted a heavy kick in the gut but Sakura saw it coming and once the older Jounin's leg had come in contact with Sakura's body, she pushed off from it and back she went.

Now on the verge on hitting a tree limb with the back of her head, Sakura ducked in all her hopes of not injuring herself, even though she was a medic and could easily heal herself, but a blow to the back of her head would most certainly knock her unconscious.

She dodged it, making sure her landing would be secure, Sakura looked back to shock. Sakura perceived the weak spot of the tree she was about to land on and knew it would end bad. It all desperation, Sakura had to avoid landing on that spot, but she had dropped her guard, allowing Kakashi to finally get her.

"Stay focused Sakura," Kakashi warned, appearing right in front of her and his arm pulled back, ready to strike at any second.

Sakura held her breath at the close proximity between her and the older Jounin and braced herself for impact with either the trees or Kakashi's fist. Alas, Kakashi got her first, punching her right in the gut and sent her flying. Sakura felt her muscles tense, temporarily immobilising her movements until she finally gained full control again.

Once Sakura could move again, she knew she'd get herself injured one way or the other. With that, Sakura twisted her body around so that her legs would be aiming downwards at the ground.

With barely any other way to make this any more enjoyable, Kakashi moved his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan eye and gave Sakura a rightful smirk, "now lets get this battle really started," he proclaimed, kneeling to his fighting stance.

Sakura panted heavily to catch her breath and observed the situation: Kakashi had his Sharingan activated and there were tree branches sticking out in all directions and above all, they were up in an extremely high distance from the ground; falling would be a bad idea right now.

"Bring it," Sakura snapped, glaring seriously at the Jounin not too far from where she stood.

With that said, Kakashi leapt from his branch and made a handsign, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he announced, with multiple shadow clones appearing around him. Sakura wasn't intimidated one bit, but she had to keep an eye out for what Kakashi had in store for her.

There were at least ten Kakashi clones now- including Kakashi himself- and all ten of them jumped up and threw several shurikans and kunai knives at the pink haired Jounin. It was a direct hit. Sakura was blown back by the force of the weapons that hit her and blood ran from her mouth as she gasped.

Then, 'poof', Sakura turned into a log with the kunais and shurikans stabbed into it, "the Substitution Jutsu?" Kakashi grunted irritably and landed on another branch along with his shadow clones.

One by one, Kakashi's clones were disappearing with the sounds of kunais hitting the tree branches. Looking back, Kakashi only had two clones left; Sakura was definitely up to something and was also heading in the right direction with it too.

'_There you are_,' Kakashi thought, noticing a certain pink shade within the trees from the corner of his eye.

Stealthily he threw kunai knives in Sakura's direction, hearing the rustling sounds of the knives cutting its way towards Sakura and the sound of the medic scurrying to get away. Sakura winced, not really paying attention to what made such a painful throb in her left shoulder and payed better attention to what her former sensei could be doing.

Out of no where, Sakura lunged, appearing in front of Kakashi with a serious smirk on her exhausted face. Charging at the full intention of destroying the man, Sakura drew her attack. Once again, time felt slow; Kakashi watched as he ducked to get out of Sakura's blade she held in her hand.

Sakura was quick this time; Kakashi only just managed to avoid the kunai that was aimed for his neck to finally end the battle without killing him, but nicked the fabric of his headband and cut a small lock of his silver hair.

Kakashi moved as quick as he could to get out of Sakura's way, and he did it so fast that his headband had slid off his forehead as he sped his way to another branch. Checking quickly where his forehead protector could be, Kakashi found Sakura holding it in slight curiosity.

He narrowed his vision, watching Sakura's every movement while he tried to come up with an easy way to end the battle without truly hurting his former student, "last round?" Kakashi suggested, getting tired and wanting to rest for a while.

"Okay then," Sakura replied, returning to her fighting stance with Kitsune finally joining her on her shoulder.

With the sun now setting, the final round got under way; each blow and clash with their weapons and hand-to-hand combat forced both Sakura and Kakashi to push themselves further to win. Kakashi used up most of his chakra and so did Sakura; they were both getting tired and worn out. Kuro and Kitsune on the other hand had used up their energy trying to stay on their masters' shoulders without flying off or getting knocked off.

Still holding Kakashi's headband, Sakura swung her elbow at the older Jounin but was blocked, receiving a kick not too hard in the gut. Again, Sakura pushed off from Kakashi's leg and sent herself airborne backwards in hopes of landing safely and away from her former teacher.

Sakura flipped backwards, aiming her landing spot on a collection of piled branches overlapping with leaves covering the possible gaps and drops and made sure Kitsune wouldn't fall off her shoulder. Shock crawled its way over Sakura's face as she noticed trouble as she was landing on the closest branches that were in reach.

Unfortunately, Sakura's landing precautions had predicted wrong and the branches she landed on shattered under her feet, causing her to fall, "aaah!" she screeched, reaching to her right shoulder where Kitsune clung in fear.

"Sakura-chan!" Kakashi shouted, quickly making his way to the hole from where Sakura fell.

All he could see was the broken branches and the sounds of them snapping as the birds below fled from their resting places and headed up to the skies. Now it was silent; Kakashi snapped his gaze at anything that would remotely look like his former pink haired student.

"Sakura!" he tried again, but alas there was no response.

Having given up waiting for Sakura's voice to call to him, Kakashi carefully made his way down; knowing the amount of chakra he had left wasn't enough to hold him to a tree for much longer. He slowly made his way down the path of snapped branches until he couldn't tell what was broken compared to the thick growth of trees around him.

Kakashi was led deeper into the forest without knowing himself where he was going, just as long as he could find Sakura unharmed and safe.

The sounds of insects buzzing around and the throbbing pain in her shoulder and leg, caused her to moan uncomfortably. She felt something nudge her face, whining worriedly in hopes of Sakura to respond.

Slowly, Sakura opened her eyes to find herself staring at a pile of undergrowth and a bundle of brown fuzz, "…K-…Kitsune…?" she hoped, trying to find the strength to get up from her painful position.

Groaning again, Sakura tried to find her voice, wondering why she found it so difficult to speak in the first place. Slowly, Sakura forced her sore muscles to finally move and shook her head lightly to get a better view on her surroundings.

Sakura sat up, finding the world spinning at sight. What happened to her? All Sakura could remember was falling through an unexpected and hidden drop and remembered seeing Kitsune on her shoulder freaked out and then…nothing. She must've blacked out or hit her head on something hard because her head was pounding.

Finally realising where she really was, all she could think of was, "Kakashi?" she looked around, noting that the remaining sunlight was almost gone and night was definitely close, "how long have I been out for?" she wondered, rubbing her temples frustratingly.

Kitsune, who was sitting on a branch with worried eyes, meowed to get the pink haired medic's attention. Sakura looked up at the brown fox to find Kitsune glaring at her seriously with worry, "it's okay Kitsune, I'll be fine," she reassured, glancing at her left shoulder where a cut was exposed with dried and still running blood on her arm.

She felt it sting and winced again. Carefully, Sakura reached her hand over the deep cut and focused her chakra into her arm to heal it, but for some reason she wasn't able to heal her arm.

"Damn it!" she cursed, sighing audibly.

Sakura reached up to her surroundings and gripped onto a branch to pull her up. Warily, Sakura got to her feet and looked around for any signs of life _or_ Kakashi for that matter. She felt her whole body ache, noting that she must've overextended her use of chakra again. But putting those worries aside for the time being, Sakura perceived something obvious on her brown fox friend; she wasn't purring, nor was she happy like she always was, but Sakura couldn't blame the poor fox, she had been out and about and now she's scruffy with dirt and twigs in her fur, not to mention the injured paw.

"Kitsune! You're hurt," Sakura exclaimed, pointing at the clear obvious.

Kitsune whined, frowning deeply as Sakura patted her gently on the head. Sakura knelt down on her knees and took a closer look at the injury Kitsune must've received as they fell to the bottom of the forest.

Sakura grinned at Kitsune, reassuring her that everything would be alright eventually, "let me try something," she suggested, knowing she wouldn't get anything out of it other than cuddles from her friendly fox.

Desperately, Sakura tried to collect as much chakra to her hand as possible and wrapped her hand softly around Kitsune's injured paw. Assessing the problem Kitsune had to deal with in the past how long, Kitsune had a sprained paw, along with a few scratches. The real problem in this situation was whether or not Sakura had enough chakra to heal her fox's injury.

Slowly but surely, it was working; Sakura's chakra was mending the ligaments in the right places and the bones back in place and removing the painful tension in Kitsune's leg, "there we go…" Sakura flinched at the amount of strain she put on herself after using up the remainder of her chakra reserves.

Kitsune meowed again, still not purring or looking the slightest bit happier. Sakura finally apprehend Kitsune wasn't upset about her injured leg, but more worried about Sakura's safety than her own. Gently, Kitsune hopped down from the branch and climbed up on Sakura's right shoulder, brushing her fluffy face against Sakura's to show her care.

"Lets go find Kakashi and Kuro before it gets darker," Sakura announced, patting Kitsune briefly and looking at her hand with Kakashi's headband in a tight grip.

Sighing again, Sakura started her search for Kakashi, first trying to find her way out of the dense fart of the forest where the tree branches were still sticking out in every direction. As Sakura got to a more level part of the woods without getting hurt, she realised that there was no sound in the forest at all, except for her own feet disturbing the strange peace within the trees.

Sakura had to frame it up that she couldn't run, walk up trees and at the very least stay awake; Sakura was tired and she needed to rest, but she couldn't waste time, she had to find Kakashi before someone else would. Kitsune constantly kept a close watch on her master- making sure she wouldn't head into danger without knowing it. Sakura was weak now, and vulnerable; she could barely keep her guard up.

After about an hour of aimless walking, Sakura sat down to try and tend to her small injuries. Reaching into her back pouch, Sakura pulled out a small flask of water she always carried around and stared at it for a moment or two, wondering what she could use it on.

Feeling the burning sensation in her shoulder again, Sakura made up her mind. She set Kakashi's headband down with Kitsune and braced herself for the pain she was about to receive. Sakura tipped the water onto her arm to wash out the dirt and blood, hissing at the pain as the now red water ran down her arm. She set the flask down and scooped the running water on her free hand and gently rubbed her cut with the water she had collected.

Again, Sakura poured some more water on her arm to clean off the excess blood and shook the blooded water from her fingers. Sakura looked around for anything she could use to dry her arm without getting it filthy. Having no other option available, Sakura tor a strip from her red and white top and dried her arm, dabbing the now bundled fabric on her cut, staining it with the dried blood and water.

Now that she was satisfied with her rough work and attempts to stop her arm from getting infected, Sakura disposed of the strip of fabric after wiping down the rest of the dirt and scratches on her body.

Sakura gets to her feet, still feeling rather dizzy from her lack of chakra in her body, "lets go Kitsune," she said, picking up the brown fox and setting her on the medic's shoulder.

By now, the last of the sunlight was completely gone and only darkness lingered with the dawning of a near full moon in the sky, but the trees were too thick for her to see it shine. Still in search of her former teacher, Sakura wanted to stop again and sleep, but something made her keep going. Kitsune looked around the forest suspiciously; she could smell something and was out of place and she decided to keep a look out.

Sniffing audibly, Sakura stopped to look at what Kitsune was doing, "what's the matter Kitsune, smell something?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Kitsune ignored her master's question and jumped down from her shoulder and walked off ahead of her.

"Kitsune, where are you going?" Sakura called, following her through the trees without losing her only value of company.

Kitsune stopped and looked back at Sakura, who was clearly not in the state of following anyone at this point. She meowed, trying to tell Sakura something and started to walk off again on her own. Sakura was getting impatient with Kitsune's strange behaviour and followed her again, "Kitsune please, what's going on?" Kitsune meowed in encouragement and climbed up a tree, looking back only once to get Sakura to follow her.

Sakura sighed in irritation and climbed up the tree without the use of her chakra. Sakura was now in a tight position; she had an injured shoulder and Kakashi's headband in her other hand with both feet balanced on short and stubby branches. Carefully, Sakura tied Kakashi's headband around her neck and resumed climbing up the massive tree.

With one or two slips, Sakura managed to climb her way to a sturdy limb where Kitsune was waiting, "please don't strain me Kitsune, I'm already tired and worn out," she muttered jadedly, rubbing her eyes and standing up straight with a long frown growing across her face.

"Great, more climbing," she sighed, slouching in near defeat.

Kitsune meowed in warning. Sakura knelt down in front of Kitsune and placed a hand on her head, patting her gently. Before getting up, she felt something sinister within Kitsune's body. Sakura felt an enormous amount of chakra running within Kitsune's tiny body and it seemed slightly abnormal for Kitsune to have _that _kind of chakra.

Kitsune glared at Sakura seriously and placed her paw over Sakura's hand and closed her eyes. Sakura suddenly felt something tingle its way up Sakura's arm and through her entire system; Kitsune was donating Sakura her chakra so she could keep her strength up.

"Kitsune…you're chakra is…" Sakura trailed off at the pride she felt towards her fox friend.

Kitsune opened her green eyes and let Sakura take her hand back. Feeling the strength she needed at this point, she was thankful, yet completely taken aback from what Kitsune had given her.

Sakura clenched her fists in determination and felt her body slightly stronger than before. One thing Sakura had to ensure was that she wouldn't use it to heal the cut on her arm; that would have to wait until she found Kakashi and rested up to regain her own chakra and health.

With nothing more to lose, Sakura adjusted the headband that was nicely tied around her neck and leapt to the next branch. Kitsune led the way and Sakura closely kept up with her. As they went, the moon was slowly making its appearance in the dark sky and gave Sakura a bit more light to see.

"Okay Kitsune, which way," Sakura posed, waiting for Kitsune to make the decisions.

Kitsune meowed, softly and sneezed, hopping to another tree limb and continued to search. Sakura had no complaints with this now that she had chakra and the determination to persist until she had found what she was looking for.

'_Naruto__…__if only you were here to help; you__'__d know what to do_,' Sakura said inwardly, frowning momentarily before shaking the bad memories from her head.

Naturally, Sakura would keel over and give up, but something in her gut told her to never give up until you have accomplished what you are fighting for. Sakura did remember Naruto mention something like that constantly when they were training together, but it never really occurred to her that the advice she was getting was actually helping her.

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**Author's notes**: Yeah, the injury Sakura got from the kunai Kakashi threw at her was a bit of a sob thing, but in a story like this, injuries have to happen; not to mention Sakura falling to the bottom of the forest and waking up at night. In this chapter, I made Sakura seem like she is actually _useful_ and _strong_ enough to do something about the situation she was caught in. Anyway, thanks for reviewing on the last chapter, I hope you liked this chapter, now reviews again please


	16. Chapter 16: Memories

**Author's notes**: Gomen for not uploading soon enough, I had so much stuff to do including school work and I wasn't able to update the next chapter when I thought. But anyway, I'm here now and I have the next chapter grins widely . I have to be honest with you though; most of the time I was working on my chapters so I'd get a head start, but don't hurt me covers face . But yeah, I have Chapter Sixteen up now and we are certainly getting deeper into the plot . Hope you enjoy and review after XD.

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MEMORIES

Sakura thought about the many things Naruto had told her before her thoughts led to Kakashi in person. This strange friendship they had as former student and teacher was getting creepy, but that didn't mean Sakura wasn't enjoying the care she got from the older Jounin. In truth, Sakura enjoyed being with Kakashi more than anyone else she had ever met in her life. Sasuke was just a childhood crush, who always crushed Sakura's heart in her affectionate ways of caring for him. Kakashi on the other hand seemed to care for Sakura, as well as keep himself under control without scaring the medic in his aloof manner.

Sakura had never really expected someone like Kakashi to step into her life, and only now was she truly realising the fact that she was growing feelings for the Jounin, even thought she didn't want to admit that to him. It scared her in a way because she was his former student and fourteen years her senior.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Sakura was completely unaware of where Kitsune was taking her, but wherever it would be, Sakura trusted Kitsune in leading her in the right direction.

Sakura was starting to get tired, and so was Kitsune, but neither of them signalled to stop nor did they even express their weary state; instead, they steadily jumped to another branch and kept going.

Kitsune meowed loudly to Sakura, letting her know that they were close to something. Sakura could sense a faint level of chakra up ahead and she knew it had to be Kakashi and Kuro.

Kitsune slowed down on her paces, causing Sakura to do the same. There, ahead of Sakura and Kitsune was a decent landing area; most likely manmade, meaning there must be something special about this place Sakura was now in.

The boards looked like they were taken from the forest itself to make this. It was a long walkway and Kitsune was well ahead of her in leading Sakura to where she was to be taken, "wait for me Kitsune," she shouted, running after the little brown fox. The long trail Sakura was following was almost endless; she could sense chakra flow up ahead but she wasn't completely sure who it was exactly.

Another meow to the pink haired medic, Kitsune hopped up in enthusiasm; that counted for something. Sakura didn't want to yip around like Kitsune until she was sure she had found Kakashi and Kuro.

The path bent within the trees, making Sakura feel her stomach fill up with butterflies. Kitsune and Sakura decided to pick up the pace and sped up using the remainder of their chakra until they saw a shadowed figure heading their way.

It was true; Kitsune was well ahead of Sakura and had already met up with a black shade almost the same size as she was. Sakura gazed at the brown fox greeting the other before her eyes met up with the man who owned that particular animal. The man's silver hair gleamed in the moonlight, causing Sakura to heave a sigh of relief.

"Kakashi," Sakura muttered, completely relieved that they finally found each other.

Sakura sighed again and walked closer to the older Jounin, smiling tiredly but happily. She eased closer to the tall silver haired man and gave him a gentle hug, "I thought I'd never find you," she stated, tightening her grip on the back of Kakashi's baggy navy blue shirt.

"Same here," he replied almost absentmindedly, slowly letting his arms relax around the medic.

At the Jounins' feet, Kitsune and Kuro were purring again, greeting each other in their natural ways. Kitsune eyed the black fox before her, before giving him a lick on the face and meowing sweetly. Kuro was a bit stunned by the brown fox's sudden actions towards him, but happily accepted the lick on the face as a complimented greeting.

Sakura couldn't help but smile in the man's arms; she knew she was safe now and she felt that she would never leave his side. At the time, Sakura had let it slip her mind that she still had a cut on her shoulder, caused by Kakashi's careless attacks. She let Kakashi go to observe her injury a little more, but Kakashi beat her to it, "how did you get this cut on your arm?" he asked, running his thumb softly around the cut.

Sakura looked off to the side, "you did that during our battle, remember?" she reminded the man of what he had done, making Kakashi's eyes widen in disbelief.

"I did that to you?" Kakashi couldn't remember ever hurting Sakura, until now.

"Yeah, but it wasn't your fault; I just wasn't quick enough to dodge those knives," Sakura assured the silver haired man that it wasn't something Sakura would be so worked up about.

"But still, I feel bad for hurting one of my former students…" Kakashi trailed off.

Sakura sighed again for the nth time, "Kakashi, don't worry about it, it's just a small cut," she said, patting the older Jounin on the arm.

That didn't make Kakashi feel better at all, but he decided to let the matter drop, before saying, "Sakura-chan, why didn't you heal it before you made your way here?" he tilted his head to the side to examine the cut.

Sakura grunted softly and rolled her eyes, "I don't have enough chakra to do that," apprehensively, Sakura brought her hands up her arms, feeling slightly cold after such a hot day outside and then running through the forest with cuts all over her limbs and face.

Noticing Sakura was almost shivering now, Kakashi wrapped his arm around the medic and grinned. He looked to his left to find a massive statue of a familiar person, "have you seen this yet?" Kakashi pointed at the tall statue, standing on top of a stone with a plaque on it.

Sakura gaped at the tall figure and remembered who the person was, "it's the First Hokage?" she said in awe, mouth agape and stared at the statue.

"Exactly, this place was where he was born and grew up in until he met Uchiha Madara and travelled all over until he became the founder of Konoha," Kakashi explained, his arm still around Sakura.

Kakashi brought his arms back to himself and stuffed his hands in his pockets, slowly making his way to the statue to read the text on the sign below, "In honour of a great Shinobi, our hero and friend; now Shodaime of the Leaf, who gave the Hidden Tree Village a new meaning in nobility and pride…" he said, obviously reading what the sign had written on it.

Sakura walked towards Kakashi and the tall monument, kneeling down in front of the sign to read it with her own eyes, "Shodaime Hokage, the Mokuton user and a wise Shinobi. He himself was the one who could tame the Nine Tailed Beast with his powers to suppress the tailed beast's chakra," Sakura read the last part of the statement and grinned.

"Kyuubi no Youko…" Kakashi mumbled, thinking back nineteen years ago when the Kyuubi attacked the village.

"I heard a few stories about his teammate…" Kakashi stopped mid-sentenced to see what Sakura would say about a story.

Sakura turned to face Kakashi, who was looking up at the statue of the First Hokage, "stories?" Sakura mentioned, raising an eyebrow with an eager smirk on her tired face.

Kakashi chuckled to himself, "I thought you'd be interested to listen," he stated, looking down at the ground momentarily and looking up again, "it's kind of a long story, but I'll make it a bit shorter for you," he advised, crossing his arms over his chest. Sakura remained completely silent as Kakashi cleared his throat to speak.

"It all happened about fifty years ago when Shodai-sama and Uchiha Madara were travelling together as a two man team. Madara was a very unrelenting and pretentious; he always competed to get better and become stronger than Shodaime, but the First was indeed stronger."

"During their journey, Shodai-sama and Madara discovered a very small town where the people who inhabited it lived in poverty and bad guys roamed the place. Shodai-sama was the first to step in the problem of the village by knocking out a man who was harassing a young lady. After that, he became a hero in saving the town in many situations like robberies and assassinations," Kakashi paused for a moment to catch his breath.

Sakura listened intently, "eventually the village became safer to live in and it thrived, with Shodai-sama becoming the Hokage and thus Konoha came to be. After you and Naruto became Jounin, I did some research in my spare time to learn more about the village past and I found out a very tragic truth behind most of the trouble that had been caused in the past twenty years," Kakashi paused again.

"Well, what happened?" Sakura looked so naïve with her look of curiosity.

Kakashi raised his hands to keep Sakura quiet and continued, "when my sensei, Yondaime was Hokage, there was an attack on the village. It was at the time when Yondaime's wife was pregnant and the village needed him dearly to fight off the Nine Tailed Fox when it appeared out of nowhere. It turned out that Madara had despised the village because of Shodai-sama so much that he called upon the Kyuubi and sent it to destroy the village," Kakashi nodded to himself, though trying not to prove that he had actually studied all of this.

Sakura's eyes widened, saying, "so, if Shodaime and Madara never met, then the Kyuubi would never have attacked the village and Naruto wouldn't have the Kyuubi sealed in him _and_ Yondaime would never have died," Kakashi nodded again, "precisely," Sakura frowned deeply, causing Kakashi to sigh.

"That means, if Naruto never had the Kyuubi inside of him, he would be totally different to what he was really like because he'd be the same as everybody else," Sakura looked off to the side while rubbing her arms nervously, "not to mention he probably never would've met Jiraiya and he most likely would've been one of the smartest students at the academy,"

Kakashi sighed again, "but it did happen, and to be perfectly honest with you, I don't think Naruto would've lived when we fought Zabuza in our first _real_ mission if he didn't have the Nine Tailed chakra in him," he chuckled to himself and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Sakura was still frowning, not getting the humour out of it at all. Thinking about it, Sakura had Naruto on her mind since Kakashi was telling her the story about the birth of Konoha, and it was starting to bother her quite a bit now.

Kakashi noticed the sadness growing on the medic and chuckled again, placing his hand on top of the medic's head, "you look like such a mess," Kakashi changed the subject, pointing out the obvious at Sakura's scruffy state. Sakura didn't want Kakashi to bring up this part of the conversation and certainly didn't want him to detail it either.

"Thanks for pointing that out," Sakura pouted in irritation.

Kakashi laughed quietly and ruffled the medic's pink hair childishly. Sakura groaned in frustration and whacked his hand from her head, "I hate it when you do that," she muttered, folding her arms across her chest in almost pure annoyance.

"I know, that's why I do it," Kakashi chuckled again, an obvious grin under that mask covering the greater portion of his face.

Sakura grunted tediously, a clear sign of disinterest, "you're so gullible," Kakashi chuckled, doing the same actions again just to rub it in teasingly.

"I'm being serious, Kakashi," Sakura protested, swatting his hand away again, a clear sign that she wasn't in the mood anymore to be toyed with.

Kakashi sighed, gazing down at his former student, noting she was now rather upset about something, "you know I was only teasing you, right?" Kakashi tried, hoping that would cheer up the saddened medic, but alas his attempts failed him. Sakura shot him a serious and miserable glare, "that's not it. It's just something that's been bothering me for a while now," almost sniffing in misery, Sakura stared at the ground where her feet stood.

Kakashi stared in sympathy and moved his hands from the Kunoichi's head, "then what is it that's caused you to suddenly frown?" he asked, frowning himself at what he thought could be upsetting the medic so.

Sakura didn't answer, instead she thought back to her dreams and the moment when _it_ happened between her and Naruto. Kakashi tilted his head askew, trying to figure out how he managed to teach someone such as Sakura.

For the life of him, Kakashi couldn't understand how everything affected Sakura in such a way through this whole mission. Kakashi opened his mouth to say something to the sad medic but she beat him to it.

"I can't stop thinking about Naruto," she began, "everyday, I wake up, feeling as though someone had stabbed me in the chest and right after that, Naruto's death swims around in my head," she sobbed silently, trying to hide her fear and depression.

Kakashi sighed, '_another breakdown_,' he thought, wishing there was some way to cheer her up without rubbing in her face.

"Sakura…" Kakashi shifted his weight to his other foot and watched Sakura cry again.

No response.

Kakashi notices Sakura shaking. Was it her grief that was causing this, or was it fear of her loss? "Sakura-chan, please, stop crying," Kakashi's voice almost sounded desperate as he stared at the sobbing Kunoichi.

Sakura ceased her snivelling and looked up at the older Jounin. She was still shaking, and Sakura was trying to figure out herself why she was doing so. Kakashi placed his hands on the medic's shoulders and raised an eyebrow, "crying isn't going to take back the loss of a friend, you should know that. And besides, you're stronger than that," Kakashi hoped that would work.

Sakura was still quivering, so as a last resort sort of thing, Kakashi pulled Sakura closer to him and hugged her. Without even thinking about it, Sakura was totally relaxed - though the trembling continued, she wrapped her arms around the Copy Ninja.

Sakura sighed, feeling so comfortable in the Jounin's arms. It finally clicked, Kakashi chuckled lightly, "were you cold?" he asked teasingly. Sakura huffed, "just a little bit, it must be because it was so hot today that I didn't think about how cold it would get the second the sun was gone," she mumbled, rubbing the side of her face into Kakashi's shirt.

Sensing this was probably longer than necessary, Kakashi reluctantly tried to pull Sakura from him but Sakura squeezed, pulling herself closer to him and not letting go at all, "uhh, are you going to let me go any time soon?" Kakashi wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"No…you're warm," Sakura's face flushed a light shade of red as she snuggled into the man's shirt.

Kakashi's arms relaxed and slid them down almost absentmindedly to the medic's waist, watching Sakura's reaction. Sakura felt Kakashi's hands tenderly on her waist and felt everything on the back of her neck stand. Now Sakura didn't feel the cold anymore, instead she felt the warmth of Kakashi's body keeping her nice and cosy.

Sakura hummed breathlessly, wanting to hold onto him forever, but knew this situation wouldn't last long and end soon, such as now. Sakura frowned again, thinking about Sasuke and whether or not he would ever find her.

Kakashi felt the worry within the medic and sighed. Sakura finally loosened her grip around her former sensei and looked up at him and grinned. She noticed Kakashi's serious glare in his mismatched eyes, gulping nervously as Kakashi's face came closer to hers.

"Kakashi…" Sakura felt his hot breath on her reddening face, sending chills down her spine.

Kakashi moved one hand from the medic's waist and brought it up to Sakura's face, running his fingers along her cheek and moving the pink hair from her now flushed face. Sakura stared in utter surprise, not moving an inch but trying to establish what Kakashi was exactly doing to her.

Kakashi moved closer to Sakura until their faces were only a mere inch apart. Before Kakashi could do anything further to make Sakura feel more awkward and disturbed inside, he shut his eyes tight, sighing softly and letting Sakura go, "I can't. I just can't," he muttered, rubbing his temples guiltily.

Sakura's face turned a new shade of darker red as she stared at Kakashi, who, not to Sakura's surprise, was not making any eye contact whatsoever. Kakashi cursed, saying something Sakura couldn't hear but was sure he was blaming himself for whatever it was.

Sakura quickly shook her head, ridding her mind from inappropriate images that were starting to linger around in her imagination. Kakashi stood aimlessly in front of the monument and sighed again, "sorry…" he uttered calmly, rubbing his arm.

Kuro and Kitsune exchanged glances as they watched their masters react strangely to their own actions. Sakura stretched out her arms and yawned tiredly, "we'd better head back to the village before it gets really cold," Kakashi glanced over his shoulder to find Sakura ready to grab Kitsune and walk off, "wait," he stated firmly, facing his entire body towards Sakura now.

"Huh?" Sakura muttered, finally able to make eye contact with the older Jounin.

"It's already late and by the time we find the village, we'd be too tired to travel tomorrow. Besides, we're both pretty tired already so maybe we should just stay here for the night,"

Sakura looked uncertain for a moment before sleep started to get the better of her, "okay then," she put Kitsune on the ground and walked over to Kakashi, a faint blush still tainted on her cheeks.

The two made their way behind the memorial statue and found a nice part of a tree to sleep under til morning. Sakura plopped herself down with a huff and yawned again, leaning back on the large tree and sighed. Kakashi joined her and sat next to the Kunoichi and rubbed his eyes jadedly, "oh yeah, I almost forgot," Sakura started, not so tired anymore. Hastily, Sakura untied the black forehead protector from around her neck and handed it to the Copy Ninja sitting next to her.

"Here; I had this with me since the battle and since I found you, I never got the chance to actually return it to you," Sakura said, holding the headband up for Kakashi to take.

Kakashi blinked, staring strangely at his own headgear and sighed, "thanks," he grabbed his forehead protector and tied it roughly around his neck and let it hang there for the night.

Kakashi stared up at the dark sky where the moon was the only thing to light up the already dark forest. With the moonlight shining through the trees, Kakashi realised he hadn't been able to sleep for the past hour already. Kakashi would read his trusted orange book, but the one problem was he didn't take it with him for the sparring session he and Sakura had, and had left it in his bag so it wouldn't get damaged.

Sighing audibly and quietly to himself, he heard Sakura moaning softly. Looking to his left, he noticed Sakura tossing and turning, trying to get in a better sleeping position. Barely able to realise what he was doing, Kakashi reached over to the pink haired medic and placed his arms around her and slowly pulled her towards him.

Without hesitation Sakura moaned again, leaning almost her entire body against Kakashi's and sighing softly as she relaxed herself. Kakashi held his breath for only a second before allowing himself to breathe normally again. Slowly and gently, Kakashi slid down to almost a resting position and let Sakura sleep on him. Kakashi looked up at the starlit sky one last time before letting sleep consume his movements and taking him to dreamland.

Sakura felt the warmth on her face and lower body; she didn't want to wake up just yet but opened her eyes to tiny slits to check what was keeping her warm. Blinking a few times, Sakura's eyes were wide open now and she realised it was the sunlight heating up he legs, but she couldn't under stand how everything else felt so cosy, especially on her waist.

Shifting her gaze, Sakura saw a certain hand on her waist rested peacefully there without any movements. Sakura felt her face flush a little at the sight before moving her position a little. She glanced up from her resting position and watched Kakashi's peaceful look on his masked face.

Sakura wondered why she was lying like this, but right now it didn't really matter; she personally enjoyed where she was at the moment and lay back down. Sakura listened to Kakashi's steady heartbeat as he slept, feeling his chest rise and fall during every breath.

Kakashi took a deep breath and sighed, finally opening his eyes after sensing Sakura was already awake. Taking the time to observe his surroundings, Kakashi felt Sakura's hand move across his stomach. This almost felt like something that happened that day before.

A thought came to mind, Kakashi decided to pretend that he was still asleep. Sighing again, he lazily moved the hand that was on Sakura's waist around to her back, making Sakura flinch at the touch.

Slowly, Kakashi moved his hand back to her waist and left it there. Curious, Sakura lifted her head to find Kakashi still sleeping, or at least that's what she thought. Thank Kami for masks; Kakashi couldn't help but grin, but not wide enough for Sakura to notice he was faking the whole time.

Sakura shifted a suspicious glare at the Copy Nin and lay back down. As soon as she was relaxed again, Kakashi continued; moving his hand along Sakura's waist again. Instantly Sakura reacted; she lifted her head and glared at the sleeping Jounin, though not so convinced that he was really asleep. Giving him one last chance, Sakura lay back down, sighing again before feeling Kakashi's hand move up this time and leaving her waist. Before Sakura would sit up and glare at Kakashi some more, Kakashi began to chuckle lightly.

"You are so easy to trick," Kakashi muttered, stretching out his arms and taking a deep breath to wake up properly.

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**Author's notes**: Yeah I just _had_ to make a fluff scene with these two; I just couldn't resist the urge to do so. The last part I think was a pretty random way to wake up. Hehehe, I do apologise about the random bits that come in from time to time. BUT, while I was writing up with chapter, I was thinking how much I was leaving out Kitsune and Kuro in the story, so I decided to make them the number one attention in the next chapter (sorry about the spoiler in that case). Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reviewing constantly and please do it again .


	17. Chapter 17:The Unfortunate Ones

**Author's notes**: hahaha, we're getting closer to the _really_ good parts. I don't mean to shout spoilers if I am, so I apologise, but I'm just soooo excited to get on with the story. I just want to shout out what happens in the entire plot, but I don't want to ruin it for you guys, so I'm maintaining all urges fiddles with fingers. Anywho, I did say in the previous chapter that I wanted to get our two foxy buddies Kitsune and Kuro more involved...well here they come XD Chapter Seventeen. Enjoy

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE UNFORTUNATE ONES

Sakura sat up, blushing at her own embarrassment and pouted, "_Damn_ you, Kakashi," she snapped, eyeing the silver haired man some more before sitting up properly. Leaning back against the tree they slept under, she heard an abrupt growl and movement against the small of her back.

She turned around hastily to find Kitsune and Kuro trying to sleep there; Kuro staring at the startled medic with one eye open. Under the black fox's paw was a still sleeping Kitsune, who was purring softly.

"Sorry Kuro, I didn't know you were there," Sakura said apologetically.

Kuro opened both his big blue eyes and meowed, signing his acceptance and returning his attention to the brown fox under him. Sakura grinned, watching momentarily before returning her awareness to the Jounin on her right.

"Haha, very funny, Kakashi; teasing me should've been something I'd expect from you but why the _waist_?" Sakura blushed at the thought of Kakashi feeling her up like that.

Kakashi smirked, "dunno, I guess I just like to experiment with something new for a change…" Kakashi stopped in his words as he watched Sakura's face turn from disappointed and confused to utter annoyance and anger, which Kakashi received a whack upside the back of his head, "baka! Think before you say something like _that_, especially to a woman like me," she retorted irksomely as an eye twitched.

Kakashi chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, saying, "Sorry, guess I haven't fully woken up yet," he started chucking again and Sakura just rolled her eyes with a sigh.

Still a bit irritated at how Kakashi started her morning, she was quickly caught off guard when Kuro nudged the small of her back, "huh?" Sakura turned to find Kuro frowning and whining lightly. Something was really bothering Kuro.

"What's wrong Kuro?" Kakashi asked, getting in a better position to face his foxy black friend.

Kuro started whining, signalling something out of place and he knew it. Sakura finally figured it out, "Kakashi, look," Sakura uttered with sheer worry in her eyes.

Sakura patted a rather sleepy Kitsune, who didn't appear to be moving much, "Kitsune, are you okay?" Sakura asked, nudging the brown fox softly before receiving a bite from the black fox.

"Ow!" Sakura was startled at Kuro's reaction with Kitsune not waking up.

The bite wasn't deep at all, just squeezed the skin on her hand; nothing serious or bleeding for that matter.

"What's gotten Kuro all riled up?" Kakashi wondered, watching his fox companion whine as he tried to get Kitsune to wake up.

"It's Kitsune, she won't wake up," Sakura was really starting to worry now that Kitsune wasn't reacting to anything Kuro or Sakura did to her.

Staring ominously, Sakura watched as Kuro nudged Kitsune continuously to wake up or say something to show she wasn't dead. Kuro was whining and freaking out and pawed Kitsune's head to finally get a response.

"Mrrrrr…." Kitsune finally opened her eyes, but they weren't green.

"Kakashi, her eyes…" Sakura stared at Kitsune's weak state.

"Their red…" Sakura patted the brown fox gently to only receive another growl from Kuro.

Kuro hissed at Sakura before he too fell weak and dropped to the ground with a whine, "Kuro!" Kakashi worried, grabbing the black fox and letting him rest in his arms. Sakura too grabbed Kitsune gently and held the fox in her arms.

"What's wrong with them?" Sakura asked, starting to really freak out over the two weak foxes.

Kakashi shook his head, "I don't know, but we should get back to the apartment and check it out before it could get worse," with a nod from the medic, the two leap up into the trees and set off to the village.

The two Jounins jump from one branch to the next, realising that they haven't eaten yet and their stomachs were already begging for breakfast. Sakura felt that she had not yet regained all her chakra, but she had enough to check what was causing the weakness in the two foxes.

Hastily, Sakura and Kakashi carry Kitsune and Kuro with great care to not to upset them, "I wonder what caused them to get sick like this?" Sakura asked herself, glancing down at the moaning and sleepy fox in her arms.

"I don't know, but look; Kuro's eyes are red as well," Kakashi showed Sakura the black fox's weak glare and his eyes were changing to a shade of crimson, "but his eyes were blue just a minute ago," Sakura prompted, getting really concerned and confused about the health of both Kuro and Kitsune.

Soon enough, Kakashi and Sakura made it back to the village and quickly made their way to the back of their apartment.

"Up here, quickly," Kakashi pointed up on the veranda and leapt up onto it, waiting for Sakura to follow him.

The two crept through the window of Kakashi's bedroom and placed the two sick foxes on his bed, "Sakura-chan, I need you to check what is wrong with them. Can you do that?" Kakashi said a distinct look of concern in his mismatched eyes.

"Of course," Sakura replied with a nod and immediately got down to work.

Assessing Kuro first, Sakura placed her hand gently on Kuro's body and focused her chakra through her hand to check the interior of the black fox. The heart was fine, just beating a little fast due to the pain Kuro must've been feeling at this point. Sakura noticed the strange flow of chakra in the fox's system before her hands began to sting.

She winced at the pain and withdrew her hand, feeling it burn at the touch, "okay, that was weird," Sakura muttered, staring at her hand that was now slightly red from the burning sensation she was feeling the second she was looking at Kuro's chakra.

"So, what's wrong with him?" Kakashi asked patiently, staring at the somewhat surprised medic.

Sakura didn't reply; she sighed as she moved on to Kitsune's health. Doing the same thing as she did to Kuro, she concentrated her chakra through her hand and into Kitsune's tiny body to check the problem internally. Again, Sakura's hand began to blister from the hot chakra she felt within the brown fox.

She gasped as she winced at the stinging burn she felt in her hands, now slowly creeping up her arm. Sakura fell back, cringing at the pain in her arms and stared at the two foxes in complete awe.

"Aargh!" Sakura shouted, latching her free hand around the cut on her arm.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Kakashi kneeled beside his former student, placing his hand on the medic's shoulder, before quickly taking it back after his hand began to sting.

Sakura shook her head, feeling the burning sensation starting to fade as she gazed at the sick foxes, "their chakra; it burns," she stated, sitting up again with Kakashi's aid and rubbed her hands sorely.

Sakura placed two fingers on Kuro's forehead and suddenly she felt the whole world spin. She winced again, feeling the pain in her cut starting to sear at the slightest touch. Suddenly, Kuro's eyes opened, still red and they had the distinct strike of death in them. Sakura froze before falling back in total shock.

"Sakura!" a voice shouted out to her.

Sakura knew it was Kakashi and she could barely hear him call out to her as she slowly passed out. Now in complete darkness, Sakura started to see flashbacks from _many_ years ago as a Gennin:

_Naruto stood in front of the snake's head with a kunai in both hands, catching his breath before looking up at the frightened Sasuke with his red and catlike eyes, "hey you. You're not hurt are you? You little scaredy cat,"…_

_The red chakra oozed from the blonde's body, causing the crowd to gasp, "I'm the one who will be Hokage some day," he announced angrily, glaring at Neji, who stared in surprise at the level of chakra he saw with his Byakuugan…_

"_No. Don't say that Sasuke is yours. He doesn't belong to you," the second tail spouted along with the third. Both Sakura and Sai gazed at the enraged blonde and backed away a few steps…_

_The miniature Nine Tails roared loudly at Orochimaru to intimidate him, but it was a lost cause. Naruto swished his four tails around and eyed the snake wielder, "Naruto! Please stop!" Sakura screamed, running to him, "no, Sakura don't," Yamato warned, but it was too late; Naruto had already made his move towards the medic and lashed out one of his tails, hitting Sakura on her arm and made her fly back…_

_Naruto leapt at the frightened medic and growled, "Naruto, stop! Please stop!" Sakura protested against the incensed blonde in hopes of him actually listening to her, but alas, Naruto didn't hear anything that was said to him and continued to attack Sakura…_

"S…-ra-chn," Sakura only barely heard that.

She finally opened her eyes and was staring at Kakashi, "hmhmm…" Sakura mumbled before her eyes widened and she sat up at an instant. Kakashi however was slightly confused at what was exactly happening at the moment. With Kakashi still holding onto the medic, Sakura sighed, looking around the room and glanced at Kakashi.

"How long was I out for?" she asked.

Kakashi looked off for a second before answering, "not that long; only about ten minutes," he helped Sakura to her feet and let her get back to her work.

"Were you able to do anything while I was out?" Sakura asked, observing the two foxes carefully.

Kakashi shook his head, "there was nothing I was able to do to help these two," he stated, sighing lightly to himself and rubbed the back of his head as he glanced over to Kuro and Kitsune.

Sakura nodded, knowing that Kakashi wouldn't be able to do much while was out. Kakashi looked uncertain for a moment and finally found the words, "Sakura-chan, what happened to you back there? You just fell back and fainted," he said hastily as Sakura took a seat in front of the foxes.

Sakura was silent for a moment before sighing heavily, saying, "right after Kuro looked at me, I was seeing flashbacks of when Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra in battle," Kakashi's eyes widened, now paying his attention to Kuro and Kitsune.

Sakura sat up properly and took a calming breath. Focusing more chakra to her hands, Sakura placed them on both foxes to compare them. This technique Sakura was using was only used by very experienced medics and Sakura had only just started learning about this. Feeling the pain in her arms already, Sakura pushed that aside to concentrate on Kuro and Kitsune's health.

But before Sakura could find the source of their problem, Kuro stood up, startling Sakura, "Kuro, are you okay?" Sakura wondered, wanting to pat the black fox, but Kuro refused to be touched.

"The descendents of the Kyuubi have been awakened and thou shall be ready," Kuro said. Both Sakura and Kakashi were extremely surprised.

"What? Kuro can talk?" Kakashi wondered, completely dumbfounded and baffled at what Kuro was now doing. Kuro's eyes were glowing red and red colours began to flow from the two foxes' tiny bodies.

Sakura stared into Kuro's eyes and said, "What do we have to be ready for?" Kuro winced, growling at his pain, "After the container of the Kyuubi was killed, something was left behind," he paused, sighing to rid himself of the pain in his body.

"The Kyuubi and the boy had fused with their spirits and consciousness and created something to protect those precious to the boy's life. Once the boy died, his spirit and the Kyuubi's created nine young and very live foxes to represent the boy's and the Kyuubi's life; each with their own personality and colour,"

Sakura and Kakashi listened to the deep voice that belonged to the black fox, though it was very strange for a fox such as Kuro to be able to talk to them freely in the first place, "where did the nine foxes end up?" Kakashi asked, sitting down next to the pink haired medic.

Kuro grinned, "Kitsune and I belong to you two and the rest lie elsewhere in the ninja world; to those who the boy and the Kyuubi had exchanged lives with. In other words, the boy's closest friends have each received a fox identical to their own personality,"

Sakura and Kakashi finally recognised the colours flowing from Kuro and Kitsune's systems, "Kakashi, look. It's…" Sakura paused, "the Kyuubi's red chakra…" Kakashi finished her sentence and gaped at the black fox.

"The boy had made many friends within his life, but only nine were chosen. Why? Because each fox represents a tail of the Kyuubi itself," Kuro exclaimed, closing his eyes, "overtime, the master's fox will learn from them and grow stronger, as well as in size. The nine foxes can grow to be nearly half the owner's size, maybe bigger," he continued.

Sakura was puzzled, "but how did you end up with the Kyuubi's chakra?" she asked.

Kuro chuckled; it sounded evil and almost like the Kyuubi itself, "the Kyuubi's essence is left in all nine foxes, but we do not awaken them until later on while bonding with our masters," he explained, looking off to his right where Kitsune lay unconscious.

"But what is the purpose of this all?" Sakura asked, demanding several questions, which was starting to irritate the black fox.

"The one you called Naruto and friend wanted to share his feelings to his closest friends and by doing so, he would truly understand how his friends were to him by leaving tiny foxes to take his place,"

Kakashi switched glances from the questioning Sakura to the talking Kuro; this was by far the weirdest day he had ever had. Kuro's chakra began to return within him and he sighed, "My duty as a fox is to show you what Naruto wanted in his life. I now am Kakashi's fox companion and will remain as such until the day he dies,"

Kuro sits down on Kakashi's bed and said, "Sakura, the reason you saw those visions of the past of Naruto and the Kyuubi's chakra was because you were affected the most after his death, and the reason you were affected so much is something you will soon find out," with that said, Kuro's eyes returned to their normal blue colour and collapsed on the bed.

Both Sakura and Kakashi glanced at one another with puzzlement and looked back at the two foxes that lay there, "now that was _really_ weird," Kakashi stated plainly and touched the black fox to find that his hand didn't get burnt by the chakra.

"Move your hands for a minute," Sakura ushered his hands away from the black fox and replaced them with her own.

Sakura let her chakra flow through her hands and into Kuro, searching for any internal problems beside the red chakra, which didn't seem to bother her anymore. With nothing to find but perhaps a minor headache for both foxes, Sakura gave them a soft smile and faced Kakashi, "they're fine now, I think they just need to rest a while and they'll be back to normal," she assured, patting Kitsune gently and getting to her feet.

Kakashi sighed in relief, staring at Kuro with still a slight worry in his eyes. Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, Kakashi readjusted his headband and covered his left eye to preserve his chakra without it going to waste, "we'd better head out, we'll get something to eat on the way out of the village before we starve," he suggested thoughtfully and eyeing the two sleeping foxes.

Sakura's stomach strongly agreed with a soft growl and the medic's face flushed a light shade of red. The two Jounins carefully picked Kuro and Kitsune up and made their way out of Kakashi's room and paced them tenderly on the couch. After doing so, Sakura dashed right into the bathroom to shower. Kakashi sighed as he watched Sakura shut the door behind her.

Shortly after Sakura emerged from the bathroom with a fluffy towel wrapped around her and she hastily skipped along to her room, "you can use the bathroom now," she said quickly and shut the door to her room.

Kakashi grinned sheepishly as he grabbed the clothes he needed and disappeared into the bathroom for a good fifteen minutes.

Sakura exited her room and took a deep breath of her clean self; glad that she finally got to shower since her little experience in the forest the day before. She looked at the cut on her arm and sighed, placing her hand over it and focusing chakra through it to heal her injury. It didn't take long to heal and soon she tended to all other bruises and cuts she received that day.

Fixing the last nasty looking bruise on her ankle, Kakashi walked out of the bathroom with an undershirt on with the mask or course, and a pair of pants. Sakura, who was in a strange healing position as if she was trying to scrape something sticky from her high heel shoe, looked up to the silver haired man across the room and smiled, "just tending to the last of my injuries," she said so innocently.

"Okay…" Kakashi replied, though he didn't really care what Sakura was doing and dried his hair with the towel that was still around his neck.

Walking off, Sakura sighed as she felt hunger take over and the shortage of chakra ache her muscles and joints. She glanced over to the sleeping foxes and thought back to what Kuro had said about the link between the Kyuubi and Naruto, and rubbed the side of her neck as she strode her way back into her bedroom and packed her backpack.

After Sakura took an awful while packing her bag, Kakashi stood out in front of the apartment door with the key in hand and his foot tapping on the floor in almost complete impatience. After another ten minutes of waiting and both foxes in Kakashi's arms, still asleep, Sakura finally walks out of the room.

"Took you long enough," Kakashi heaved a sigh frustratingly.

Sakura shrugged as she adjusted her bag straps and grinned widely, "ready to go?" she asked, still grinning. Kakashi grunted and nearly fell over from the sudden question and sighed, "lets go," he opened the door and allowed Sakura to exit the building.

Quietly Kakashi and Sakura exited the village after having something to eat and burn off on their day's travel. Sakura worriedly carried Kitsune in her arms, glancing down at the resting brown fox half the time and not putting a smile on her tired face. Kakashi quickly peeked a look at the worrying medic and sighed gracefully, "What lovely weather we've been having," he tried, changing the mood in the atmosphere as much as he could without creeping Sakura out.

"Huh?" Sakura whizzed from her blank staring phase to a questioning look in her emerald eyes.

Kakashi stared a moment before chuckling a little and returning to his little orange book.

"Oh the weather? Yeah, it sure has, but I have a feeling that it won't stay like this for very long," Sakura finally answered, trying to keep a straight face by staring at the snoozing fox in her arms.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, glancing only briefly from his precious reading material to only return to the text before him. Sakura sighed audibly as she looked down at the fox in her arms. She noticed how calm Kitsune was sleeping and that she didn't look uncomfortable or anything of the sort.

Later in the day, the sun rose to the highest point, setting its rays upon the spacing trees ahead. The thick forest was clearing and the path was sloping upward slightly as the two progressed on their mission.

The path almost seemed endless to the eyes of both Shinobi; Kakashi wasn't completely bothered, he was mostly too busy to notice because he had his nose buried in his orange covered book. Sakura sighed in frustration as boredom overtook her. She glanced up at the sky to notice the sun was fast in its path to set. Slightly surprised, Sakura sighed again, wanting to fall asleep, but still pulling her mind to the brown ball of fuzz in her arms.

"Alright…" Kakashi started, "we'll rest here for the night,"

Sakura glanced over her shoulder to find Kakashi just standing there before he turned to the side of the road and past a tree. Calmly Sakura followed him to where he stopped and dumped his bag on the ground without dropping Kuro from his subtle grip.

Sakura lay down the second her sleeping bag was rolled out and huffed a big sigh, "ahh, finally," she murmured through the fabric of the sleeping bag. Kakashi rolled his eyes with a chuckle as he started the fire, glancing to the pink haired medic every second.

As Kakashi was laying out his sleeping gear, Sakura was just staring at him; having nothing better to do. The silver haired Jounin felt Sakura's gaze on him and felt a little uneasy with her eyes on him, although he didn't mind getting all the attention; he was just nervous about the fact that it was his former student.

Sakura relaxed herself as she stared at the dancing flames of the campfire. Soon sleep overtook her senses and was completely asleep. Kakashi heard the sleeping Kunoichi breathing steadily and sighed as he shut his book and settled in the sleeping bag, allowing slumber take over and off he went.

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**Author's notes**: I think I might've over done it a little with the whole Kuro talking thing, but you decide. I actaully enjoyed how the chapter started off with Kakashi getting a smack from Sakura hehehe. I really do enjoy writing these stories, and I certainly hope you guys enjoy reading them

With love


	18. Chapter 18: Things

**Author's notes**: whew...sorry I'm so late for updating, I've been pretty busy lately; mostly at school. Anyway, the lateness is behind me now and I'm here with the next chapter. Hint: this chapter has to be one of my favourites, and you'll see why once you read it. So without further ado, I give you Chapter Eighteen: Things.

**Ps**: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Enjoy

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THINGS

Sakura tried hard not to wake up or even open her eyes; she wanted to keep on dreaming and felt too lazy to fix the breathing problem she only just realised now. Still finding it difficult to breathe properly, Sakura opened her eyes a crack and felt the light burn her eyes. Blinking a few times to get use to the brightness, Sakura finally figured out what was preventing normal respiration.

Sighing deeply - or more trying to - Sakura felt the weight on her chest vibrate softly and create humming noises. Finally. Sakura's eyes widened as she heard a faint 'meow' coming from the buzzing object.

"Kitsune?" Sakura looked down at the brown bundle of fur and smiled.

Finally getting the blood streaming through her system properly, Sakura rubbed her eyes and sat up, cradling Kitsune in the process, "Kitsune oh my god I can't believe you're okay," she exclaimed, nuzzling the brown fox playfully and smiled widely.

"Kuro you're okay too, I'm so glad," Sakura said, pointing at the black fox sitting by the burnt out campfire and purring softly.

Sakura glanced to her left to find her silver haired friend still snoozing under the morning skies. Before long, he groaned at the lack of normal breathing he was getting when Kuro leapt onto his chest with a playful growl.

Kakashi wheezed at the sudden wake up call, "uhhoh…Kuro, you silly fox," he started, squinting his eyes and placing his hand roughly on the fox's head. Obviously, Kakashi didn't want to wake up yet. He rested his head back down with a sigh and closed his eyes, hoping to get back to sleep.

Kuro whined noisily and hopped closer to his masked face and squinted a scheming grin. Kitsune, who was being pampered by Sakura, meowed at Kuro; something neither Sakura and Kakashi would understand but Kuro would. The black fox whined back in protest and nipped at Kakashi's masked chin and pulling down the fabric.

The second Kakashi's mask dropped below his nose, Sakura's heart leapt to her throat and her eyes widened beyond belief. Immediately Kakashi heaved to the side so Sakura wouldn't see his face and shooed Kuro away for the time being, "what the hell man?" he wondered, pulling his mask back where it should be.

Sakura's face turned to an all-new shade of red at the thought of Kakashi's face actually witnessed and shook her head to rid the nasty fantasies from her mind.

Kakashi sat up, "okay, I'm awake," he sighed deeply and glanced at Sakura's priceless look of surprise. Kuro instantly made his way cheerfully to Kakashi's side and purred, nudging the Jounin's side for attention. Kakashi looked down at the smiling fox and returned the smile as a form of mockery before narrowing his eyes evilly at Kuro, "that was very cheeky Kuro, don't do it again," he stated firmly, waving an accusing finger toward the black fox.

Kuro nodded, still grinning as if he crapped himself, before trying it again, but only this time he gripped onto Kakashi's face with his small claws and meowed playfully. Kakashi freaked out at the black fuzz on his face and shrieked, "Kuro get off, get off!" he tried to pull - without hurting the fox of course - Kuro from his face without hurting himself in the process.

Sakura just sat there with a wide grin of excitement and watched the two boys rumble for the upper hand. Kuro meowed again as he reached for Kakashi's mask and finally got a hold of it. Kakashi's eyes widened and finally figured out what Kuro wanted, "Noooo!" he shouted helplessly as Kuro slowly slid down the navy blue fabric covering the lower half of the Jounin's face.

Kakashi ceased struggling with his legs and started using his hands instead (not that Kakashi used his feet for anything in particular), gripping a hold on Kuro's paw that was slowly revealing his face to Sakura, who was hiding how much she wanted to see his true identity. Sakura's wishes had actually come true when Kuro jumped away from Kakashi, forcing the older Jounin to fall back with his mask partway on his chin and lower lip.

Sakura's eyes widened more than she knew they could and felt a nosebleed coming on and cupped her mouth in total shock, "oh my god, Kakashi!" she uttered, not worried about the fact that he just hit the back of his head on the hard ground, but mainly referring to the mighty handsome face he had to show.

Kakashi opened his eyes finally and sighed in defeat, "crap…" he grunted; his movements no longer hasty or worrying, just plain bummed that he got his mask taken off by a damn fox.

"Holy crap!" Sakura was finally able to say, her jaw nearly dropping to the ground.

Kakashi glanced at the pink haired medic, who had turned a very, very dark red and huffed, "I know, my mask is gone," he said, sighing again for the nth time already and glaring in total despise at Kuro, who was just smiling happily.

Kakashi pouted, making Sakura's heart nearly skip a beat; his face was absolutely gorgeous. His facials were almost perfect; not a scar on his face, except for that vertical scar across his eye and partway down his face to about the level of his nose. Kakashi's face was flawless and Sakura couldn't deny that.

With her blush slowly fading, Sakura gulped deeply to push the lump down her throat and ease the adrenaline in her system, "well I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't like that mask," she sighed slowly, blushing faintly as Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"You didn't like the mask?" Kakashi wondered, a little puzzled over everything at the moment.

"Well duhh, why would you hide a face like that if it's drop-dead gorgeo-" Sakura stopped, and covered her mouth at the words that she had let slip a little too fast. She felt her face burn up again as Kakashi raised an eyebrow in suspicion, though he himself was trying to avoid the humiliation that happened only seconds ago.

Kuro sat there, staring at Kakashi's face with a bright smile. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the black fox, trying to send him a death glare, which in fact didn't work because Kuro was enjoying the moment too much.

"What I meant was…um…" Sakura trailed off, though not keeping her prying eyes from Kakashi's face.

Kakashi waited patiently as he felt the discomfort sink in, "well…?" he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Sakura raised a hand in apology and cleared her throat inwardly, "well of course I don't like the mask; it's like I'm not talking to you but that I'm only talking to the mask you wear, and I find that kind of rude," she blushed silently as Kakashi raised a suspicious eyebrow.

Of all the identities Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had thought of, it was none of the sort. In fact, Kakashi's face was something Sakura had never seen before in her entire life. His face was narrow. Slightly pale, but narrow. His nose was completely straight with not a scratch on it. And his lips. Sakura certainly couldn't ignore those. There was just something about Kakashi's lips that made Sakura want to…

'_Kiss them?_' she said inwardly.

Tempting. Yes, Sakura was tempted to do whatever her mind had screamed out at this point and would die to…NO! Absolutely not! Sakura couldn't. She had to admit that Kakashi was definitely hot, but would never admit it to anyone but herself.

"Drop-dead gorgeous, huh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Eh?" Sakura had to recap on what she had 'accidentally' spat out to him earlier and blushed faintly.

"No!" she protested.

Kakashi chuckled at Sakura's embarrassment, obviously knowing she was lying, but decided to play along, "so you think I'm ugly?" Kakashi pulled the saddest face ever with the pouting lip, making Sakura frown.

"No, I didn't say that you were ugly," she said with a frown and finally looked away.

The silver haired Jounin furrowed his eyebrows, pretending to be really disappointed with Sakura, "then what is it then?" he asked, lying back purposely to annoy the medic. Again, Sakura's face turned redder at the question as well as what Kakashi was doing.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering what to say when, "okay, okay, I admit it," Kakashi rested on his elbows as he leaned back, waiting patiently for Sakura's final answer.

With a sigh and face turning a new shade of red, Sakura said, "I'm being absolutely honest with you by saying that…I think…that you're one of the most attractive guys I have ever met…" there, she said it; her inner most thoughts had just been spilled.

Kakashi choked. He could've sworn he misheard Sakura, but something like _that_ coming from _his_ former student was _so_ surreal; it must've been his imagination playing up again.

"Uhh, come again?" he wondered, leaning forward to make sure he'd hear the medic this time.

Sakura's face turned beet red; she was hoping Kakashi wouldn't ask anything further, especially after what she had just confessed to him. Swallowing deeply, Sakura took a short breath to repeat herself, "I think that you're an attractive guy…" her face turned a darker shade of red and wished the ground would swallow her whole and end her life on the spot.

Kakashi's imagination wasn't playing tricks at all, Sakura really said those words about him and was being completely honest with him. Sakura felt a sweat drop trickle down the side of her face and tried hard to keep a straight and calm face, but her blush just wouldn't go away.

"Really?" Kakashi asked with a slight tease in his voice.

Sakura nodded with her eyes closed and bit her bottom lip, hoping Kakashi would stop right at that point of the conversation and move on. But alas, Kakashi wasn't done quite yet, "well…this is awkward," he muttered. Sakura looked up; not exactly what she had thought he would've said nonetheless.

Sakura didn't reply. Instead she tossed the sleeping bag aside to stretch out her legs from her sitting position, though she couldn't help but watch Kakashi's expression change so obviously, now that he wasn't wearing his mask anymore. It felt somewhat new to Sakura that Kakashi didn't have the blasted thing covering his face all the time; maybe now Kakashi would leave it down.

Kakashi rubbed his face stressfully, feeling stupid that he had practically _let _Kuro pull the mask down. The older Jounin wasn't actually used to his bare face himself; he basically felt a bit naked without his mask on and tucked his fingers under the dark navy blue fabric that was scrunched around his neck. He stretched it out a bit before sliding it over his face with a sigh.

Sakura rubbed her arms, noticing that Kakashi had just replaced the mask. She couldn't quite figure it out, but she felt slightly disappointed that Kakashi had covered his face again. Knowing that she had said enough already to last a good few days or perhaps the rest of the mission, Sakura chose not to ask anything about his personal life such as his mask.

Other than the early morning show of awkwardness and humiliation, the day cruised by; Kakashi and Sakura had Kuro and Kitsune on their shoulders and made their way further up the sloping path.

Soon, the trees had almost completely cleared on their right side, with only a few patches on the left. The clearing and the sloping path led up to a cliffy area, where the road followed the direction of the hills flowing alongside the rows of trees.

Kakashi was silent as usual, reading his precious Icha Icha book as they walked. He made a sidelong glance to his former student and noticed she too was very quiet, '_must__'__ve been something about what happened this morning_,' he thought, pondering a little over what Sakura must've thought about his face. Heck, Kakashi should've known what Sakura was thinking because she practically shouted it out to him, saying it at least three times over. This truly was the most awkward day the silver haired man had ever experienced thus far.

The two Jounins stopped at the peak of the road where it exposed the land ahead. Sakura gleamed at the view with a small smile whilst keeping Kitsune on her shoulder.

Kakashi finally got his eyes peeled from his little orange book to set his sights on the landscape before him, "wow…" he said in a blank tone and returned his eyes to his book. Sakura looked over her shoulder to find Kakashi's nose buried in his orange covered literature, "is the plot that good?" Sakura wondered, raising eyebrows at the older Jounin.

"No, it wasn't that," Kakashi replied, "you caught me on a wrong time after taking a look at the view in front of us; it's quite spectacular really,"

Sakura rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips, "you can't look ten seconds at something nice without looking back at your reading material," she started, trying to get Kakashi to take the challenge.

His lone visible eye perked up from the text and sent Sakura the message 'you're on!' but he merely stuck with, "oh?"

Sakura crossed her arms across her chest and said, "Yeah, your weaknesses are those Icha Icha books you read on a daily basis. You wouldn't last five seconds without them," Kakashi raised an eyebrow and lowered the novel.

"And I bet that you wouldn't last five minutes reading this book without falling to bits," Kakashi proposed, returning his gaze to the writing in his hand.

Sakura walked over to the Copy Ninja and placed a finger on top of said book, lowering it, "is that a challenge I hear?" she asked, glaring mischievously at the Jounin with a slight grin creeping on her face. Kakashi grinned back with a single chuckle, "I believe it is. You read Icha Icha, and see how long you can last," he shut the book, avoiding the catch of Sakura's finger inside and tucked it away neatly in his back pouch.

Sakura narrowed her eyes with a light humming sound before saying, "what's the catch?" Kakashi looked up as if deep in thought and glanced back at her with a grin, "okay, if you can read the whole book - doesn't matter how long it takes - you're a bloody legend. If you can read at least the first half of the book without it messing up your little mind, I'll do whatever you want me to do for a whole day," he explained.

Sakura gaped for a moment, "and if I don't get that far _or_ get my mind physically corrupted?" she waited for Kakashi's punishment when he finally stared into her emerald green eyes.

With an obvious grin behind Kakashi's mask, Sakura wasn't going to like what she was about to hear, "you have to do whatever I please for a whole day when we reach the next village," he exclaimed, patting his former student on the head before ruffling up her pink hair childishly.

Sakura stared at him mouth agape, swiped the man's hand from her head, and grinned. She looked off to look at Kitsune, who only shrugged. Another moment of silence and Kakashi pulled out the first volume of Icha Icha, which was the one he was reading currently. He held it up in his hand in front of Sakura and waited, expecting her to decline the offer.

Another minute or so, Sakura finally complied, "you're on!" she snatched the book from the silver haired Jounin's hand with a grin, but before she could run off and start the bet, Kakashi grabbed her arm not so subtly, "if you damage my book, I will decide on a better punishment than being my slave," he warned.

"Fine, don't worry, I'll take care of it,"

It didn't quite occur to Kakashi until now that it almost sounded like Sakura was eager to read his pornography filled novels. It must've been because of such a decent reward from doing so. Kakashi watched as Sakura hesitantly stared at the orange book, wondering when she'd start reading it.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he resumed walking, looking back to find Sakura looking rather confused. He chuckled inwardly, knowing she was determined to win the bet; there was absolutely no way Sakura was going to be Kakashi's maid for an entire day, hell no.

As the day progressed, Sakura stared only at the cover of the book she borrowed, '_just go for it Sakura! Read it and beat Kakashi at his own game!_' Inner Sakura whooped, punching the air violently.

Sakura looked up from the cover to find Kakashi staring at the view on his right with his hands in his pockets. To Kakashi, this was something he would never do again, nor would he ever tell anyone he let his former student read those erotic books. But he had to be honest about it, Sakura was no longer a little kid, but a woman; she was now allowed to read those restricting books if she wanted to, but even Kakashi knew she wasn't perverted enough to even touch those things.

Sakura thought about it for a moment and finally opened the book. The inside cover had the title written again along with the author's autograph inside; she should've known Kakashi would've wanted Jiraiya's signature for the books he so happened to depend his life on to create.

Sighing audibly to herself in pity, Sakura turned the page to start her torture of reading Kakashi's favourite reading material. The first page introduced the main character Junko in the story, where it started off when the man was hitting on a nurse. Later in the story, Sakura realised the many illustrations of near naked seductresses posing in every picture. Sakura tried her best not to notice them before a rather interested Jounin slowed down to walk alongside her, "enjoying the illustrations?" he asked teasingly.

"Shut up! You aren't helping in any way," Sakura said, raising a hand in front of the Copy Nin to silence him. Kakashi merely chuckled at Sakura's irritation towards him and sighed.

The two walked down the path where they were getting closer to the view they saw earlier on the cliff. Sakura now had her nose buried in the book; the plot was thickening and actually getting better, but she'd never admit that to Kakashi of course. Sakura was often blushing when she came to a sexual part of the chapter or when Kakashi just grinned at her whenever she looked up at him.

When they finally made it to a small area of trees and the sun was beginning to set, Kakashi and Sakura decided to make camp. Putting the book away for the time being, Sakura couldn't help but look at it while she was dumping a small pile of firewood on the ground; she wanted to read more, even though it was filled with porn, Sakura still wanted to find out how it ended.

By now, the sun had long set and the fire was burning bright. Kakashi had his own Icha Icha novel to read, Icha Icha Fantasies: Junko's revenge. He flipped the pages of the light blue covered literature and glanced up to the pink haired medic, who was staring seriously at the orange novel in her hand, obviously deep in the plot.

With a chuckle, Kakashi put his book away neatly in his bag and lay down with Kuro on his stomach, "well…g'night Sakura-chan," he slurred softly and closed his eyes.

"Night," Sakura said, not looking up from the book she was now apparently into.

After another five minutes, Kakashi opened his eyes, watching Sakura secretly as she read the book, '_so this is how Sakura feels when I read Icha Icha_,' he thought, looking up at the clear sky where the stars twinkled in the night with the moon casting a small amount of its light upon the clearing.

Kakashi rolls to his side and closed his eyes with a deep sigh. Sakura decides to turn in for the night and hastily puts the book away and lay down with Kitsune, already sleeping by her side.

'_What is wrong with me?_' she said inwardly, threading her fingers through her pink hair as she settled under the sleeping bag. Sakura tucked the book in her bag to refrain herself from reading it. The medic stared aimlessly at Kakashi's back, wondering if he was asleep or not and trying to figure out why Kakashi didn't just pull his mask back up the second Kuro jumped off him. It seemed strange to Sakura that Kakashi reacted the way he did that morning; he wasn't really bothered by the fact that his former student had finally seen his face after all these years.

Sakura mentally shook her head to rid the thoughts from her mind and urged herself to get some rest; it had been a long day and Sakura needed some sleep. Slowly, Sakura let her eyes close while still gazing sleepily at Kakashi until slumber finally took over.

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**Author's notes**: giggles didn't expect that did you. I just had to throw something original to reveal Kakashi's face...like throwing Kuro at him I got kinda bored at the point where Sakura starts reading Kakashi's book. See why this is one of my favs? I don't know about you, but I want to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, but I know that won't happen because of my other commitments, but don't worry, I won't forget about my fans here at Fanfiction. Hope you liked this chapter as much as I did, now review please . 


	19. Chapter 19: The Bet

**Author's notes**: Here we have it, Chapter Nineteen. Oh god I can't believe it, I'm reaching the climax of the story at the moment and it's _goooood_. Gomen for shouting how I think it is so far; I hate spoilers myself, but it can't be helped. Oh well, at least I'm not saying what happens next, because that would piss you guys off as much as me :S. Anyway, enjoy the chapter 

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CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE BET

Sakura awoke with the strangest feeling. She didn't dream of Naruto or Sasuke this time but in fact a mental roll play from the book she recently started reading.

Sitting up quickly, Sakura rubbed the sleep from her eyes and gave Kitsune a gentle stroke, making her stretch out with a soft meow. The medic stretched out her arms and sighed.

"Morning," a low voice greeted casually.

Sakura looked to her left, smelling something good in the air and found Kakashi sitting in front of a fire, cooking breakfast. Sakura rubbed her eyes again and blinked, "morning, I didn't know you cooked; what's the occasion?" she began, sitting up properly and removing the sleeping bag from her legs.

Kakashi chuckled, "I just thought we should have some cooked breakfast before we head out today; I don't cook much but I'm sure it should be okay to eat," he handed Sakura a stick that she assumed were slices of toasted bread and smoked fish from the nearby pond.

Kakashi watched Sakura take a bite from his cooking and watched her reaction. Sakura swallowed the food and cleared her throat to glance up at the Copy Nin, "since when did you learn how to cook so well?" she asked, taking another bite out of the fish.

"I cook on very rare occasions; mostly when I have plenty of time and I'm not about to leave for a meeting or mission," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, prodding at the fire with a stick and sighing.

Silence fell and Sakura awkwardly munched down on her breakfast. Kakashi just sat there, staring at the morning sunrise and listening to the trees dancing against the wind. Kakashi started to think and rose an eyebrow. The thought of Sakura reading his naughty books ran through his mind; it actually made him mentally shudder at the thought.

As the morning progressed, Sakura and Kakashi were ready to carry on with the mission and head off to the next mission. It was a quiet start. Kakashi just watched the sky change colour as the sun rose higher in the sky, whereas Sakura had her nose buried in _Icha Icha Paradise_, which didn't really surprise Kakashi so much. He knew the story was good, but didn't really expect Sakura to like it as much as he did.

"Still reading the book huh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, as did Kuro.

Sakura lowered the book and glanced up at Kakashi, "yeah," a faint blush crossed her cheeks and she returned her gaze to the book. Silently, Kakashi watched momentarily as the journey went on.

Noon had already passed and Kakashi was bored. Having nothing to do, Kakashi glanced over at Sakura, who was still reading his book. At first Kakashi thought his lone visible eye was seeing things, but he only just noticed how close Sakura was to finishing. It actually made him grin.

Sakura felt a little burdened by the fact that she was not only reading the infamous Icha Icha Paradise, but Kakashi's private reading material. He never let his students read those books; the reason for that was either Kakashi didn't want his students reading those restricting books or he didn't want them to start reading _his_ favourite books and shouting spoilers.

The two took a break on the side of the road to rest up and have lunch. Within half an hour, Sakura shut the book with a very soft sigh, startling Kakashi.

"That was quick," he stated.

Sakura flushed a little and tried to rub it off, "yeah," she said, trying to act as if nothing happened to her.

Kakashi knew it; Sakura was blushing deeply, signalling Sakura was affected by the story. Kakashi was certain he saw Sakura's eye twitch the second she closed the book. After all, the book ends with a cliff-hanger.

"I win," Sakura exclaimed proudly, placing her hands on her hips and eyeing the other Jounin beside her.

Kakashi cocked his head to her in suspicion, "no you didn't," he retorted blandly and folded his arms.

"Yes I did, because that silly book of yours didn't affect me one bit, and I managed to read through the whole book," she lifted her head, acting rather cocky about her victory.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "exactly, you finished the entire book and you aren't concerned one bit?" he wondered. Sakura scratched the back of her neck and looked off, "no, not one bit," she stood firmly by her words, although she knew Kakashi probably knew she was lying.

Yes, Sakura was taken aback by how the book had ended and wanted to continue, but she didn't want to lose the bet to Kakashi and be humiliated for most likely the rest of her life. She could see it now: when she got married, Kakashi would stand up and give a speech, saying "to the one who lost a bet to her old sensei, whose objective was to read my books without a sign of physical breakdown," Sakura shuddered at the thought.

"So you liked the book?" Kakashi suggested, making Sakura click back into reality.

Sakura blushed a deeper shade of red and looked at Kitsune, who meowed in puzzlement. She had to say it, "yyyyyyyeah…I guess you could say that," Sakura's face changed colours again and stared blankly at the cover of the orange book.

Kakashi chuckled at her embarrassment and stood up, giving the medic a cheeky grin from under his mask. He approached Sakura with the grin still plastered on his masked face. Sakura felt she wasn't going to like this.

Kakashi held out his hand, daring Sakura to take it, "oh Karin-chan, I am baffled by your beauty…" Kakashi trailed off, hoping the medic would catch on.

Instantly Sakura's eyes widened, '_role-play?_' Inner Sakura wept in irritation, slapping her forehead with her hand with a loud grunt. Sakura felt a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth and gladly took Kakashi's hand.

"But Junko, I'm engaged and this would break my heart if this relationship went on…" Sakura's face turned to many darker shades of red and urged herself not to look back in the book to remember the damn lines. Kakashi's grin widened as Sakura's face changed colours so quickly.

With one fluid movement, he pulled the medic closer to him once Sakura had finished saying her bit. Sakura's heart immediately skipped a beat at the close proximity. The silver haired Jounin rest his hand around Sakura's waist, sending a chill down her spine.

Kakashi beamed in plot as he eyed the medic in his slightly subtle grip, watching her expression turn to complete and total discomfort. Kakashi had to think if it was either that they were role-playing from his favourite book or that he was holding the pink haired Kunoichi so close to him.

"But I am madly in love with you; you can't refuse that," Kakashi continued, knowing Sakura would fall apart at this point.

Sakura cringed, '_oh my god, he__s getting to me!_' Sakura said inwardly, almost groaning loudly at the thought if Kakashi actually meant what he had just said. She swallowed, hard, wondering what to do next. She felt Kakashi's hand slide up from the small of her back.

Sakura remembered this part clearly. This scene coming up was the part when Junko seduces the nurse and kisses her passionately until she finally told him she would dump her fiancé and run off with Junko. But Kakashi wouldn't do that to his former student, would he?

Kakashi brought up his free hand to the side of Sakura's face, stroking her reddened cheeks as he closed himself with the medic in his arms.

'_He would!_' Inner Sakura screeched, gripping her pink hair and closing her eyes.

Sakura could've forced herself away from the older Jounin, but something about Kakashi's face kept her completely still. He got closer and closer until his face was less than an inch from Sakura's. At this point, Sakura just stared into Kakashi's lazy eye, kind of forgetting that she held her breath for so long and the need to take in oxygen was urgent.

Slowly, Sakura let out her breath slowly, not taking her eyes from the silver haired Copy Nin. The medic felt butterflies fill her stomach as their lips were so close to touching. Kakashi stared lazily into Sakura's emerald green eyes before planting his masked lips on the medic's cheeks, lingering it softly before pulling away.

The medic felt her whole body nearly melt at the touch. She was so damn close to him, Sakura would've grabbed the man and kissed him and…HOLY MOLEY! Did Sakura just think that about Kakashi? Her former sensei? The perverted Copy Nin? Sakura had to pull her mind from the gutter, and the damn book she finished reading a half hour ago.

'_He did!_' Inner Sakura wailed in annoyance.

She just stared red-faced at the Jounin who only grinned, knowing what he had just done had gotten to her. Sakura suddenly felt the grip let go of her upper arms and she mindlessly tilted back until she forced her foot to move backwards for support.

Sakura's face spoke nothing but confusion, her eyes twitching and her mouth about to drop to the ground. She felt her knees quiver and the butterflies in her stomach ready to burst out of her mouth.

Kakashi chuckled at Sakura's red-faced embarrassment and let her go, stuffing his hands in his pockets and grinning like an idiot, "so, I guess you _can_ handle it," he raised, placing a finger in his chin thoughtfully. He was actually glad that he was wearing his mask; he could feel a faint blush crawling across his face when Sakura's eyes met his.

Sakura's blush was priceless; Kakashi knew what he had done really did affect the poor medic and couldn't hold back his amusement and began to laugh hysterically.

Sakura pouted with the red staining her cheeks still and crossed her arms frustratingly, "of course I can handle it; believe me, I can handle anything!" she snapped back, but before anything more was said, Sakura just realised what she had said to the older Jounin. She raised her hands to her mouth to stop her words from spewing out randomly and thought back on it.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow before he too realised what she said. Did Sakura's attitude sound more like, Naruto? She did say the believe part and certainly sounded like the knucklehead ninja Kakashi knew back then and the number one phrase '_believe it, _had just bounced back like a tennis ball.

Without trying to show any form of surprise, Kakashi's lone visible eye crinkled up to a smile, "how nostalgic," he uttered, placing his hand on the medic's head and ruffling up her pink hair.

"Damn it Kakashi, stop that!" Sakura swatted the older Jounin's hand from her head to only receive a grin from the man.

Sakura pouted. Sakura really hated it when Kakashi did that to her, but that wasn't the only thing bothering her. Kakashi wasn't acting himself lately, or basically since he kissed her when she had that little breakdown a few days ago.

Kakashi's grin remained and turned his back to her, "we'd better move on; the next village awaits," he made shooing motions with his hands before stuffing them into his pockets. Sakura frowned in agitation and obliged, "yep," she muttered, putting her bag on quickly and scooping up the brown fox from the grass and placing her on the medic's shoulder and following Kakashi out on the road again.

Kakashi was well ahead of Sakura, whereas the medic was deep in thought, as well as deep in a fantasy, which she didn't want to share in public at all. Sakura was having a good stare at the slump movements of Kakashi's backside and couldn't keep her eyes off him. Kakashi however felt her emerald eyes boring into him and felt a little queasy about the idea of Sakura staring at him, but chose to ignore it.

Again, Sakura was staring at the older Jounin, trying to take her prying eyes from him but the little role-play they took part in an hour ago gave Sakura a whole new perspective on things toward her former sensei.

Feeling the sweat drop run down the side of her face from the anticipation, Sakura could barely stand the pressure. Was Kakashi doing this on purpose or was life just being a bitch and unfair for the poor medic?

Another hour later and Sakura was still at it, although she was thinking deeply about the progress of the mission to take her mind of the issue, it didn't really help because of the tall bundle of body swaying with every step.

That was it! Sakura couldn't contain the pressure within any longer. This was going insane and the awkward silence _had_ to stop.

"That's it!" Sakura shrieked, stopping on her steps, "I can't take it any longer!"

Kakashi stopped, facing the medic with a raised eyebrow with somewhat puzzlement in his eye, "huh?" he uttered, cocking his head to the side a bit to assess the blushing medic nin.

Sakura's lip twitched before finally giving in, "I admit it!" she started, trying to find the courage to actually admit what she was about to say.

"The book did affect me, and it's driving me nuts," Sakura trailed off, noting the slight grin forming across the older Jounin before her, "and what you did back then made things so much worse and my mind is completely fallen apart!" Kakashi found this rather amusing to watch his former student say things like that to him.

Kakashi crossed his arms, expecting Sakura to say something, which she did, "you win the bet," she murmured, glancing to something at her side.

The Copy Nin grinned, enjoying almost every moment of this current event.

"Since I finished reading your damn porn book, I've been thinking in a completely different way towards almost everything I look at, and…and…I feel dirty…" Sakura's face reddened at her own thoughts and wished she could fall into a pit and die right now.

"See? When you read that book, you become a changed man, but in this case you're a changed woman," Kakashi chuckled loudly, unable to contain his mirth any longer.

Sakura growled softly as she glared at the tall Jounin, "you just have to rub it in don't you?" she asked with scorn, eye twitching.

Kakashi chuckled uncontrollably as he watched Sakura's reddening face change a deeper shade whenever they even looked at one another. Again, Sakura pouted deeply, ready to whine irritably before Kakashi beat her to the words.

"You get used to it the more you read it. I had a bit of trouble dealing with the intensity when I first started," Kakashi assured, crinkling his eye up to a small smile.

"How old were you when you first started reading those books?"

"About eighteen," Kakashi responded blankly, shrugging his shoulders.

Sakura's eyes widened, "crap! You certainly are the pervert nowadays," she grinned widely, trying to prove how much of a sissy pervert Kakashi was. Kakashi laughed singly and loudly before saying, "well that made me feel oh so much better about myself," he pretended he was hurt by pulling a sad face; masked, but still sad. He placed his hand over his heart to get his point across.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows at the Copy Nin and watched his saddened expressions fail to impress the medic.

The day went by faster than Sakura had anticipated and soon the sun had set and the two Shinobi set up camp. It was quiet as the two lazed around the campfire, having nothing better to do but watch the stars and listen to the calm noises of the night.

Kakashi sighed audibly, running his hand through his silver hair as he stared at the sparkling sky above. He glanced at the medic on his right, noting she was just staring at the fire calmly and was almost completely captivated by the changing colours and movement of the flames as they danced on the charring wood.

They weren't separated on either side of the fire, in fact, they were almost less than a metre apart, just doing nothing. There was the occasional comment and giggle, but other than that, the silence was endless. Sakura soon drifted off to sleep and soon after so did Kakashi and the night went on.

He didn't want to make himself do it, but he couldn't bear the commotion coming from outside his dreams. He opened his dark eye a crack and could vaguely hear what reality had to offer. It was obviously still night at what the Copy Nin could see, which on his account was something he didn't want to wake up to.

Kakashi tried to fall back asleep but the abrupt noises brewed again, '_what the hell?_' he thought, taking a deep breath to signal he was awake and alert. He rubbed his lone visible eye and assessed the issue. The older Jounin witnessed the young medic tossing and turning, mumbling something hastily but something Kakashi couldn't quite catch.

"Sakura-chan?" Kakashi started groggily.

Sakura replied with a desperate groan. She was lying on her stomach with her face buried in her small and thin pillow. Kakashi noticed the tears streaming down her face and immediately figured she was in a bad nightmare.

Kakashi shuffled his way to Sakura's side, who was still crying in her slumber, "Sakura-chan, wake up," he nudged the medic gently to wake her from her deep sleep to only get an ominous moan, sounding a bit drowned probably due to the saliva in her mouth.

Sakura's breathing was husky and fast, as if she had been trying to run from something, or someone. Kakashi placed his hand on the pink haired ninja's back for comfort, and as soon as he came in contact with the medic, she ceased her mindless struggling but was still moaning in her tears.

Kakashi frowned in sympathy for the poor medic and rubbed her back. Sakura's back shook from her crying before she finally opened her eyes.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Kakashi asked in concern.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and looked up at the worried Copy Nin with blurry green eyes and swallowed deeply. She remained silent, probably figured out at an instant that Kakashi had known she was having a bad dream, as well as the lack of speech she could give at this time.

Kakashi sighed, "you were having a bad dream," he smiled courteously at the slightly startled medic and he waited for her to say at least something.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that," she finally said huskily, as if she was still scared that whatever she was running from would still be around to scare her.

Sakura sat up, snivelling constantly. She looked like her twelve year old self again; so scared and lost that she didn't really know who she was anymore. Kakashi had known Sakura to be strong and brave, as well as talented with her medical Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, but to see her cowering away like a frightened rabbit gave Kakashi the impression that he did something wrong.

Kakashi grinned lightly before giving her a tired but serious gaze, "get some rest, we need to get to the next village as soon as we can so we can relax a bit better," he smiled dearly at the medic.

Sakura felt slight force on her shoulder where Kakashi's hand was and indicated that he was trying to get her to lie back down, and so she complied, frowning deeply as she rest her head on the not so comfy pillow and sighed.

Kakashi continuously rubbed Sakura's back subtly as she drifted back to sleep, watching her expression calm as she sighed once more. Kakashi reluctantly pulled his hand away and shuffled back to his original sleeping position and lay back down.

Watching momentarily, Kakashi almost felt compelled to look at her every time he got the chance to do so, "Kakashi…" slurred the sleeping medic in a light moan, startling the silver haired Jounin. Sakura's lips tugged lazily to a small smile, causing Kakashi to do the same. Slowly, Kakashi let his head rest and let slumber take over his body for some well earned rest.

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**Author's notes**: I liked this chapter, I finally added some randomly fluffy bits, but that's just my opinion, so I don't know what you would say about it. So there, Chapter Nine done and done. I hope you liked this chapter, now reviews please 

**Preview**: What will Sakura and Kakashi do to kill the boredom? Wait and see in the next chapter, Chapter Twenty: One Of Those Days.


	20. Chapter 20: One Of Those Days

**Author's notes**: Yosh! Next chapter! dances randomly okay I'm done grins. I seriously _love_ you guys, we've already hit the 20th chapter man...the TWENTIETH! Currently I am up to chapter twentyfour in the plot and it is going _so_ well. I just feel like shouting out what happens next, but that's mean so I won't. What I will shout out is that I have reached over 75000 words, twentyfour chapters and over 160 pages. This is a personal new record for me; this story will probably be the best and perhaps the longest story yet. But enoug bragging, here we have it, chapter 20, hope you enjoy it, and reviews please afterwards. Thanks 

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CHAPTER TWENTY: ONE OF THOSE DAYS

"You're quiet this morning," said a rather alert Kakashi, tilting his head to the side to glance at the quite down looking Sakura.

"I'm fine, just been pondering over a few things," she smiled desperately and felt Kitsune's fluffy brown tail brush against her neck.

The morning had drifted by slowly and the mist was steadily lifting into the atmosphere and allowed the sunlight to heat up the early day. Kakashi was bored and sighed for the nth time this morning; he had nothing to do. He didn't want to be a pest and read his Icha Icha novels, nor did he want to do anything in particular.

Sakura looked about the same as Kakashi, only with a true feeling swimming around since she woke up from her nightmare that night. She glanced over to Kakashi, who was staring lazily at the ground in front of him and kicked a wayward stone that so happened to be in the way of his stepping.

Sakura was getting annoyed with the constant silence and wanted to do something about the endless boredom. She finally picked up the courage to say it, "I am _extremely_ bored, but I mentally suggested something that we could do to pass the time, but if it's something between us than it will most likely last the whole day," Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the complaint and the thoughts of what Sakura's suggestion could possibly be.

"And what is this _suggestion_ that could possibly kill the boredom?" he asked thoughtfully while quirking a brow.

"It may be out of my life to actually come up with this to say it but I'm basically desperate," Sakura glanced up at the sky before finally eyeing the Jounin on her right with a smirk.

"Well, out with it," Kakashi was already getting impatient.

Sakura grinned suggestively at him before saying, "how about a spar?" the two stopped on their traces and Kakashi stared as if deep in thought before finally coming up with an answer.

"Okay," he shrugged with a slight grin playing on his masked lips.

Instantly the two Shinobi dashed down the road and found themselves a large field to fight in. The trees were spaced almost evenly and the grassy fields reminded them of home.

Kakashi stood in his aloof manner, keeping an eye out that Sakura wasn't the little Gennin he used to teach seven years ago. Sakura grinned mischievously as she got into her fighting stance, eyeing the older Jounin carefully to make sure she'd stay alert.

Why wasn't Kakashi doing anything? Sakura questioned herself momentarily before finally realising it was a trap. Sakura felt a light breeze behind her and sensed the strong amounts of chakra closing, "stay alert Sakura-chan," warned a rather cocky Kakashi from behind. Sakura could see him from the corner of her eye and reacted immediately by flipping forward and out of Kakashi's reach. She glared at the other Jounin. Kakashi was holding a kunai, ready to strike. Sakura had to tell herself many times over that when it comes to sparring with the famous Copy Nin, Kakashi didn't play around; he was focused and completely serious to nearly demolish his opponent.

Again, Kakashi leapt towards the pink haired medic with the kunai in hand and his other hand reaching back into his pouch. Sakura focused her chakra to her hands and readied herself for a beating.

Kakashi created two shadow clones, each carrying a kunai and simultaneously they all threw the kunai in hand, along with the shurikan that were hidden in their back pouches. The weapons aimed straight for Sakura's helpless looking body and a direct hit. Sakura groaned as she flew back from the force of the kunai and shurikan when penetrated her.

Kakashi had to see this coming. Sakura's body transformed into a heap of cherry blossom petals and softly landed on the grass after the metal clinking to the ground below. Up, down, left and right, Kakashi couldn't sense the medic anywhere. Knowing Sakura, she must've camouflaged her chakra to conceal her whereabouts long enough to make her attack.

"Behind you, _sensei_," announced the medic finally, aiming her chakra laden fists at the Jounin before her.

Kakashi whirled his head over his shoulder and saw the glowing blue fists heading right for him. He swiftly disappeared into a cloud of smoke the second Sakura was in contact with him. Sakura landed and instantly Kakashi reappeared with several clones behind him.

Sakura swung her leg around and knocked away the first clone, followed by another. They were coming at her like the plague and Sakura was determined to win. Each clone she hit vanished but more would appear.

'_This is surely wasting Kakashi'__s chakra_,' Sakura thought to herself, punching a Kakashi clone in the face before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

As Sakura was fending off the mass amounts of Kakashi clones, she was slowly letting her guard slip, not to mention the amount of energy Sakura was using up to fight off the clones. Suddenly, Sakura heard rustling behind her in the nearby trees, throwing her off guard and allowing one of the clones to finally get a chance to hit her.

The fist aimed right toward Sakura's face and she was too slow to see it coming until the fist had already connected with her jaw, causing her to fall back from the hit. Rubbing her jaw sorely, she had actually forgotten about the potential death cause heading straight for her. Rising to her feet and destroying the last few clones, Sakura jumped out of the way of the kunai knives and located Kakashi's position in the trees.

Kakashi narrowed his glare from the branches whilst summoning more masses of weapons from a small scroll he obtained on an earlier mission a while ago, "Multi Kunai Strike Jutsu!" announced the silver haired Copy Nin summoning another scroll from his back pouch.

'_More kunais? Aw man_,' Sakura said inwardly, watching as the large collection of knives shot their way to Sakura, but they were set to hit more of a range and Sakura didn't have enough time nor the speed to run from the jutsu, thus she dodged each knife swiftly as they pierced the ground at her feet.

One above her head, one past her arm and one by the ankle, Sakura was so close to getting hit; those clones must've been there to wear her out long enough for Kakashi to think up the perfect capture plan. It was obvious Kakashi didn't want to kill Sakura, otherwise he would've done it long ago. Sakura glared at where the knives were coming from and had to act fast; that jutsu could last as long as the user wanted it to with the chakra he/she could possess, and in this case, Kakashi was sure to stop soon.

Sakura felt her body drain the last third of her chakra reserves; she was saving it in case she got injured and needed to heal herself, but now she just wanted to beat the crap out of Kakashi to prove she had definitely gotten stronger over the years they've known each other.

One kunai struck her hair, cutting a lock or two but not completely noticeable by Sakura. Another kunai hit her shin, causing the medic to wince at the stinging sensation. After countless amounts of dodging and thoughts, Sakura didn't see that one last blow of kunai knives heading her way. Crap. Sakura felt a sudden wince and something hit her; she felt so pissed off right now.

After seeing the expression on her face, Kakashi stopped the jutsu, not to mention the blood that started too. Sakura stared at the cut she got and could finally sense Kakashi's exact location. Now it was pay back.

Kakashi leapt from his current position and headed straight for another crowd of trees; he had to stop doing this. Sakura chased after him until Kakashi finally showed his appearance on the ground.

Sakura fumed at the older Jounin, not caring that there was blood staining her lovely blue tank top. Kakashi chuckled sheepishly before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and saying, "sorry, I didn't know it'd hit you _there_," Sakura glared evilly at him, eye twitching and pouting angrily.

"You'll pay for that," Sakura retorted gallingly as she fisted her hands until her knuckles turned pale.

Sakura sped towards the chuckling Copy Nin with chakra laden fists and grunted loudly as she threw her arm forward to hit the man, but alas her punch failed due to the missing Kakashi on the terrain.

A sigh escaped her lips before Kakashi reappeared before her with the Sharingan activated, startling the medic. Holding the tiger sign, Kakashi stood up straight as he carefully eyed his former female student. Sakura was completely entranced by the spinning tomoe, watching the comma-like marks spin continuously and allowing Kakashi free access to her mind.

Sakura gazed at the red eye, unable to pull her mind from the spellbinding jutsu, until her vision blurred and her body failed to move her muscles and passed out. Kakashi caught Sakura before she could hit the ground and stared at the motionless body of Sakura.

Unexpectedly, Sakura's body exploded into cherry blossom petals again and floated away in the wind. Kakashi, as calm as he normally would, watched as the petals danced in the light breeze until his ear twitched in his natural reaction.

Sakura ran up from behind the silver haired man at full speed with a kunai in hand. Kakashi immediately faced the medic with a kunai knife in his hand and blocked Sakura from hitting him. The sounds of metal clinking and the shuffling sounds of both fighting Shinobi seemed almost endless to both of them. Sakura felt Kakashi strain to push Sakura back as he formed another tiger sign with his free hand; she knew what was going to happen. Again, the black marks in Kakashi's Sharingan began to spin quickly, trying to hypnotise the pink haired medic.

The medic looked away from Kakashi's gaze and down at his feet; she learnt from Gai that the best way to fight someone with the Sharingan is to watch their feet, even though it may seem useless, it usually worked if the one staring at feet knew how his opponent's timing performed. Kakashi quickly stopped the trance before it drained too much of his chakra to cause him to nearly faint from exhaustion.

"I see you've learned from a specific rival of mine," Kakashi started, straining again before jumping backwards and away from Sakura.

"I see someone's been busy over these years to perfect jutsus," Sakura said back in a slight mock.

Before Sakura could have time to react or even think about the next move, a clone came in from the side, kicking her in the head and causing her to fly to the side. The clone then came speeding to Sakura, who was currently trying to work her muscles again from the sudden attack and struck a pair of shurikan and senbon at the clone, triggering it to vanish in a cloud of smoke.

Instantly Sakura found her self hit in the gut by the real Kakashi and she was pinned to the ground, gasping for air. She struggled to get out of Kakashi's grip, but Kakashi had her hands gripped tight so she couldn't make any hand signs and his other free arm pressed against her chest to prevent further movement.

Sakura couldn't move her legs due to the amount of weight set down on them and tried to move her head, which was basically the only thing she could move at the time, but didn't serve the medic any advantages in which she could escape her former sensei's grip.

Kakashi felt Sakura's muscles relax only momentarily before he started his jutsu again; Sakura was getting annoyed with this. She looked anywhere but in Kakashi's Sharingan eye, but Kakashi drew closer. Sakura couldn't help but feel the older Jounin's hot breath on her neck, sending slight chills down her spine. She decided to glance at the Copy Nin, feeling a little concerned at where his eyes may be prying at and was suddenly caught by his red gaze.

Sakura's moving ceased when she fully eyed the Jounin, watching the black tomoes spin rapidly until she felt the world around her spin and faze. Her eyelids were getting heavy and she couldn't move a single muscle. Sakura really hated this, but right now, she couldn't protest against the Sharingan's ability to hypnotise as well as the user himself and allowed her body to relax completely until she passed out.

All that could be heard was "_I win_," curse that man.

Sakura soon awoke with a dizzy feeling in her head, causing her to be fully alert again. Her muscles were tired and she felt most of her chakra had been used up during the fight, '_damn that man_,' Sakura cursed inwardly as she yawned loudly and sat up to find Kitsune sitting on her lap with a side grin on her furry face.

"Hey Kitsune," she forced a smile before remembering the embarrassing injury on her chest.

Feeling very annoyed with herself, Sakura got up, trying to force her muscles into moving and allowing her to walk finally. She made her way onto the field, only just realising she was sleeping under a tree. Shrugging, Sakura slowly shuffled her way to the field; it was cleaned out. How long was she out for? The entire field had been cleared of its masses of kunai knives and shurikans.

She finally spotted Kakashi sitting on a tree branch not far from where she was, reading the light blue covered porn book. Typical Kakashi; always reading those books when no one's looking. Sakura rolled her eyes and walked on until she confronted the tree.

"You're finally awake," said Kakashi simply, flipping a page of his little dirty book.

Sakura weighed down on one leg, crossing her arms across her chest before cringing at the sensations she was feeling. Kakashi frowned deeply and put the book away in his back pouch and hopped down from the branch.

He made his way towards Sakura and noticed her small cut was still bleeding a bit, "sorry, again," he stated apologetically, though trying not to look so hard at the injury that seemed to be placed in the most inconvenient places, even for his standards.

Sakura pouted in frustration and placed her hands on her hips, "well you should've known better; you cut me on my frigging boob," she spat, placing her hand on the top of her breast to cover the cut that still seemed to be bleeding.

Kakashi found this situation rather amusing to see Sakura get upset about something like this, but he had to contain his mirth or he would've earned himself a good beating from the fuming medic if he were to do so, "hey, I didn't mean to hit you there, it was an accident," Kakashi protested, hoping he wouldn't laugh out loud at the young Shinobi for something like that.

"I know that…" Sakura held a serious face regarding Kakashi before continuing, "I just love taking the mickey out of you,"

Sakura began to laugh loudly and pointed at the surprised silver haired man, who - not too sure why himself - began to join her in the amusement. The two laughed hysterically until Sakura nearly began to cry out of joy, "I can't believe you'd think I'd be _that_ upset about something as a small cut," she began, giggling uncontrollably.

"Well I guess I'm just worrying too much over my little former student," Kakashi replied austerely and placed a hand - not on the head this time, but on her shoulder and grinned widely.

Although Sakura couldn't see the man's face because of the mask, she could always tell whether Kakashi was smiling or not just by looking at his dark eye. Sakura, who still had her hand on the cut, focused some of her remaining chakra into her hand and began to heal the wound slowly.

Once she healed herself, she made her way happily to where she was snoozing and found Kitsune and Kuro napping soundly. Kakashi lazily followed her before he felt something strange tinging in his left eye.

Sakura turned around to show Kakashi what the two foxes were doing but was caught off track when she saw the older Jounin covering his left eye with his hand and wincing painfully, "Kakashi, are you alright?" Sakura asked worryingly and stood before him at an instant.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little headache is all," Kakashi looked off to his blind spot side whilst feeling the pain burning in his left temple.

"Liar!" Sakura retorted a little harshly and placed her hand on the man's cheek.

Sakura removed Kakashi's hand from his face and examined his Sharingan eye, noticing that Kakashi was squinting in that eye and trying to look at the medic, "dang, what did you do?" the medic asked, frowning in sympathy for the Copy Nin.

Kakashi sighed, "I guess I just overused my Sharingan again," he winced again when he felt the pain strike through his temple and through his left eye.

"Come on, I'll help you," Sakura grabbed Kakashi by the arm and pulled him along under the tree and made him sit down.

Kakashi silently watched as Sakura went through her backpack in search of her water bottle. Once she found said bottle, she chugged it down quickly and sighed, "just gaining a little bit of energy to sooth the pain in your eye," she assured and put her bag away.

Sakura huffed as she shuffled her way in front of Kakashi and glanced at his left eye, "I think what I need you to do is lie down so I can work with the situation easier," Sakura sounded like she was working in the hospital again, only this time they were in the middle of nowhere and Sakura wasn't working; she was doing it voluntarily.

Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi slowly lay down on his back, sighing deeply as he got into a comfortable position. Sakura leaned to her side and against Kakashi's waist and leaned forward. Quickly she reached over and pulled Kakashi's headband off, placing it neatly aside so she could get to work.

"What I am going to do is send some chakra through your Sharingan eye and sooth the pain in your nerves," she explained seriously.

Again, Sakura sounded like the uptight nurses at the hospital, but Kakashi knew Sakura wasn't one to be uptight; she loved her job, "do whatever you need to do," Kakashi's mismatched eyes crinkled up to a smile and Sakura gladly returned it with a quick one.

Sakura shuffled closer to Kakashi's face and placed two fingers by his temple. Slowly, the medic focused her chakra through her hand and into Kakashi's central nerves. Kakashi was feeling better already. Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated deeply to work out what was exactly wrong with Kakashi's eye. The silver haired Jounin just watched Sakura work on him and waited for her to say something.

Sakura removed her hands from the silver haired man's face and opened her eyes. Briefly thinking, Sakura places three fingers around Kakashi's left eye. She felt him flinch a little at the touch and wondered what she was going to do next.

Before being able to say anything, Sakura cut him off, "just…relax," she ordered calmly and Kakashi complied. He just stared at her and waited for the chakra forced magic to happen. Slowly, Sakura sent her chakra through her fingers and into Kakashi's eye.

Kakashi felt the chakra sooth the pains in his eye and felt completely relaxed and calm. He couldn't help but notice the bare patch of skin when he accidentally threw the kunai there; Sakura healed the small cut but the torn part of her top remained the same. Kakashi felt the chakra stop and Sakura's fingers move a bit.

"Kakashi…" Sakura started so calmly, "I can see whatever you're seeing through your Sharingan and I advise you not to look there. Remember, I _am_ sending chakra through your system and could easily do something wrong,"

Immediately Kakashi's gaze switched to Sakura's eyes, grinning as he said, "sorry," he chuckled sheepishly. Sakura rolled her eyes and continued on with sending chakra into the Copy Nin's eye.

Another ten minutes had passed and Sakura was still at it, but sending smaller amounts each time due to the amount of chakra she had left. Not only that, but she was staring into Kakashi's Sharingan for the past five minutes and was feeling rather dizzy, just by watching the three black tomoe spin slowly before her. Kakashi sensed the quantity of Sakura's chakra and was getting quite worried.

Not long after, Sakura was actually straining to get chakra into the other Jounin's left eye and didn't really know how long it'd take before she'd faint and collapse on her former sensei. Sakura felt sweat run down the side of her face but tried to keep her cool and tried to pulse the last amount of chakra into his eye, but before she could continue this selfless torture, Sakura felt a hand grip tight on her wrist.

"Sakura that's enough, if you keep going like this you're going to faint...on me," Kakashi stated firmly as he pulled Sakura's hand from his left eye.

'_But that__s the whole point!_' screeched Inner Sakura whilst punching the air with hardened fists, "but if you don't get enough chakra in that eye of yours it's going to cause serious problems later," she replied with a slight worry in her tone.

Kakashi didn't really seem convinced before Sakura continued, "in the human eye, there is a specific and exact amount of chakra needed to suppress things such as pains and aches," Sakura cleared her throat, "in this case, your Sharingan needs an enormous amount of chakra to suppress the pain you've been dealing with since most likely a long time, and at the moment, I need _a lot _of chakra to complete the task," Sakura frowned deeply; Kakashi wasn't really going to like what she was going to say next.

"Unfortunately, I don't have enough chakra to finish and if I don't gain enough chakra in time, you will start to experience _a lot_ of pain within the next half hour," Sakura's frown deepened when she noticed the shock in the man's mismatched eyes.

Kakashi stared in awe, wondering what he could do to fix the situation before an idea hit him, "what if I gave you some of my chakra; would that work?" he asked curiously. Sakura was desperate to make sure she wouldn't go in the direction of pain for her former sensei and thought about it.

"I think it will work," she replied in hope.

Sakura looked around in use of a better position to sit and glanced at the tall tree next to the sleeping Kuro and Kitsune, "over here," she pointed out and shuffled her way to the tree.

Kakashi sat up quickly and followed the medic's orders and made cosy under the tree. The silver haired Jounin watched as Sakura looked a bit puzzled, "you okay?" he asked in slight concern.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just thinking over a few things," Sakura replied and smiled brightly.

"Okay…" Sakura almost whispered and grabbed Kakashi's right arm, "I need you to send your chakra through your arm and into mine; can you do that?" she asked, Kakashi nodded and allowed the medic to place her fingers around his eye again.

Slowly, Sakura began pouring her remaining chakra through and into his eye. She had her left hand gripped around Kakashi's wrist and his right hand around her wrist so it was positioned in a lock. The moment Sakura ran out of chakra, her grip around Kakashi's wrist loosened unwillingly and felt her body weaken, making Kakashi worry.

**Author's** **notes:** sigh the chapter is done...I really got bored near the end of this chapter and I also didn't really know what to write out for the consequences for the lack of chakra in Kakashi's Sharingan to heal it so yeah. I'm _really_ excited to get the next chapter up...just as soon as I get more reviews and thoughts from you guys that would be really helpful and they mean a lot...seriously they do. Anyway, yeah, I liked this chapter, although I'm not so good with fights and stuff so bare with me. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be out as soon as possible.

**Preview:** Up next: What will happen to Sakura after healing Kakashi? Coming up soon: Chapter Twentyone: Time Of Uncertainty


	21. Chapter 21: Time Of Uncertainty

**Author's notes: **AW CRAAAP! GOMEN GOMEN! Gosh I am such an idiot :S I submitted the worng chapter, damn. I skipped chapter twentyone and went straight to chapter twentytwo. I am so sorry, I feel so embarrassed right now. But anyway, here we have it, chapter twentyone (the ACTUAL chapter now) Again I am _really_ sorry and I hope I can make it up to you somehow. Perhaps updating sooner might work, but that's up to you. So yeah, here you go, chapter twentyone, enjoy

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CHAPTER TWENTYONE: TIME OF UNCERTANTY

Kakashi focused his chakra to his right arm and allowed it to flow into Sakura's body so she could use it. Immediately Sakura grasped tight on the Jounin's arm, making him flinch at the sudden force placed on his forearm. Sakura felt the familiar chakra flow in her system and used it right away; allowing it to climb to her other arm and into the man's left eye.

Now the normal flow of chakra and the process was underway and Sakura was finding things a lot easier now that she was able to use chakra. She knew that Kakashi had a lot of chakra capacity and a lot of chakra left from the fight. Now all Sakura had to do was hold out long enough for the progression to finish up so she could rest and regain her chakra.

What Sakura didn't expect was the pounding headache that was slowly starting to develop during the task and she was finding it hard to cope with the problem and deal with Kakashi's pain at the same time.

Kakashi felt most of his chakra being almost sucked out, but not quick enough for him to be affected by it in any way. Sakura quickly pulled her attention from the pain in her head to the man sitting in front of her. She felt more sweat run down the side of her face and noticed Kakashi's strain to keep his flow of chakra under control. The second Sakura saw Kakashi flinch at the sudden pressure in his eye, she knew the process was now complete and pulled her hand away, while still holding on to Kakashi's arm.

She was breathing heavily and felt her body weaken under her commands, "it's done," she muttered tiredly and leaned forward and rest her head on Kakashi's chest, still holding onto his arm as if she would fall if she let go.

Kakashi sat there with the tired medic resting against him and sighed, "thank you, Sakura-chan," he said calmly, feeling rather tired himself and sighed audibly as he loosened his grip on the medic's wrist.

Looking up, Kakashi noticed dark clouds forming in the sky and covering the sun's rays and making everything feel gloomy and depressing, "looks like it's going to rain soon," he said calmly. Sakura lifted her head and looked up at the grey sky, "so it seems,"

"We'd better set up camp before it starts raining," Kakashi reminded, pulling Sakura from him and shuffling his way to his backpack and pulling out the things needed to pitch a tent. Sakura stretched her arms and rubbed her temples tiresomely before helping out; grabbing the massive sheet Kakashi laid out.

Not long after, the tent was set up, secured and watertight so if it did rain it wouldn't drown the two Jounins in their sleep. Sakura and Kakashi made sure all their belongings were inside along with the two sleeping foxes.

The sun had long set and the two Jounins spent the rest of the evening in the tent, even though they were bored out of their minds. Sakura stared aimlessly at the ceiling of the tent out of boredom and sighed longingly. Kakashi had himself occupied with the latest Icha Icha volume, but found himself mentally bored after a while.

Sakura knew she was tired and telling herself that many times over, she knew she had done something good today and that was help Kakashi with the pain in his left eye. Not only that, she still had some of Kakashi's chakra in her system and needed to sleep it off; knowing that having someone else's chakra in your body too long could actually do damage to your muscles, but Sakura didn't mind a bit of pain; she's a medic, she could handle it.

Later in the evening, Sakura could hear the whistling sound of the wind against the trees, making it sway in the breeze. She looked to her left to find Kakashi already asleep; she had to tell herself that she earned some rest after today and so she allowed her tired state consume her conscious mind and let her sleep.

_The rocks came crashing down and all Sakura could see was a young boy with silver hair running for his life to get out._

"_Kakashi look out!" cried out a voice from afar._

'_Kakashi?' Sakura thought in surprise. She watched as the dark haired boy ran towards Kakashi after being knocked out by a rock._

_Everything was happening so quickly, Sakura was barely able to see what was happening, 'what the hell is going on here?' she wondered, watching a massive cloud of dust form before her eyes._

_Sakura rubbed the dust from her eyes, wondering what just exploded and what didn't. She was still very confused; she saw a small and young version of Kakashi running for his life and someone calling out to him._

"_OBITO!" screamed a female voice._

_Sakura looked around, trying to find where she was exactly. A cave; a large cave that had just collapsed. She looks around and finds Kakashi lying on the ground before getting up in shock._

"_Obito, no!" cried the young silver haired boy._

_Sakura noticed half of the dark haired boy Obito's body crushed under the massive boulder. Her eyes widened at the sight; blood sprayed all over the ground and both other ninja sprawled around the crushed boy._

_Sakura could hear Kakashi cursing himself many times over, telling himself that all this was his fault. Obito spat out mouthfuls of blood and gasped for air. Sakura was immediately caught off guard when Obito uttered those words, "I'll give you my Sharingan," he ordered the brown haired girl to transplant his only remaining eye to replace Kakashi's injured eye._

_Things suddenly felt cold around Sakura and the environment turned to blackness. She could hear voices of the people she was watching before and saw the dark haired boy standing afar from Sakura with a serious gaze upon his damaged face. Sakura noticed how he looked like someone had lifted the boulder from him and made him stand; the blood was all over his right side._

_Sakura was scared, tears welling up in her eyes and she couldn't hold them back any longer. She saw young Kakashi standing in front of him, reaching out to him but Obito backed away, staring at him with a cold glare._

Sakura awoke from out of fear, sitting up straight away and panting. She could already feel the tears down her cheeks and on her chin, '_what the hell just happened?_' she said inwardly.

"Sakura-chan?" came a tired voice next to her.

The medic felt her heart racing from the strange dream she was having. Was it a dream or a nightmare? Sakura didn't know. It seemed scary to her, but didn't really know how to describe it.

She looked to her left to find Kakashi, staring at her lazily with mismatched eyes, "are you alright?" he asked, tilting his head to the side with furrowed eyebrows.

Sakura blatantly nodded but Kakashi could tell that wasn't all she had to say. The medic frowned deeply before something from the dream she had brought up a question, "Kakashi," she started calmly.

"Hm?"

"H-how did you get the Sharingan?"

Silence ensued and Sakura felt the need to apologise for even asking in the first place. Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, not too sure whether he should finally tell her about his past.

Kakashi hummed a bit before finally saying, "it happened when I first became a Jounin," he paused looking up at the pink haired medic, who now seemed to be paying a lot more possible attention than before.

"When I was twelve years old, me and my team went out on my first Jounin mission. Of course at the time it was the Third Great Ninja War and we were needed to destroy the enemy bridge of the Rock village," Kakashi paused again to gather his thoughts, "my sensei went off to accomplish his part of the mission, leaving me in charge of ours. Unfortunately we were ambushed by enemy Rock ninja and my teammate Rin was kidnapped, leaving me and Obito,"

Those names were finally starting to make sense in the medic's head. Instead of asking about it, she just sat there and listened, "Obito wanted to go after the Rock ninja and save Rin, but I told him that the mission was more important than the safety of a comrade," Sakura was surprised at what Kakashi had just said. Kakashi overruling mission status against the lives of others? What was he thinking? It was unlike Kakashi to think that his teammates meant nothing to him.

Kakashi noticed the surprised look in the medic's eyes and chuckled before resuming the story, "we both went our separate ways, Obito going off to rescue Rin and me resuming the mission, but something that Obito said made me reconsider my earlier decisions," Kakashi thought about those specific words Obito left him to ponder about and continued, "I went after my teammates to help them, leaving the mission behind for the time being,"

That put a smile on Sakura's face, but only a small smile, '_that__s the Kakashi I know_,' she said inwardly, waiting for Kakashi to carry on.

"When I finally caught up to Obito, he was fighting against the Rock ninjas on his own. He had let his guard drop when the enemy ninja jumped behind him and attempted to take a piece out of him with the kunai he had, but I came in at just the last moment and took the hit instead of Obito,"

Kakashi lifted his forehead protector to reveal his red Sharingan eye, "that's how I got the scar on my left eye," Sakura leaned a little closer to observe the vertical scar across the man's left eye.

'_Okay, that answered one question. Now how about the others,_' Sakura noticed how Kakashi was watching her before she leaned back to listen to his story.

"After I told Obito why I returned, Obito awakened his Sharingan and took out the Rock ninjas. We found Rin in a cave being interrogated; she was under a Genjutsu technique and couldn't escape. Obito and I leapt into action and freed Rin from the jutsu. Unfortunately our luck didn't change when the enemy ninja used an Earth Style jutsu that caused the cave to collapse on us,"

Sakura started to catch on to where this was leading but didn't want to interfere.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi continued, "a rock had hit me on my blindside and fell to the ground. I heard Obito call my name when I tried to regain consciousness, but I felt my body being thrown away somewhere," there was a sad pause, "when I woke up, I found Obito crushed under a boulder," Kakashi's face spoke seriously. Sakura couldn't believe how much he had been through at such a young age.

"Knowing he would die, Obito gave me his left eye to replace my damaged one. Obviously he still had the Sharingan activated and when Rin implanted the eye we had to make a break for the surface," another pause; Sakura couldn't help but feel so sorry for the man.

Kakashi noticed the sorrowful gleam in the medic's emerald eyes and grinned to reassure her, "Obito wanted to take back all the bad things he had said to me; we were always at each other's necks," the older Jounin chuckled to himself, looking off at his feet.

"After trying to defeat the enemies with my Chidori, I passed out from the lack of chakra I had. When I woke up I was safe with Rin and my sensei. He'd heard about what happened to Obito and wished he could've been there sooner," Kakashi frowned a little and looked up, "we managed to complete the mission successfully and never going back on what Obito had said to me: in the ninja world, those who disobey the rules and regulations are called trash…that's what I had lived with for the past two years back then…" Kakashi paused again with a grin and closed his eyes.

"But those in the ninja world who abandon their comrades are worse than trash…that's what Obito had said before going off to save Rin," Kakashi sighed deeply, ridding himself from the regretful memories from when he was a child.

Sakura frowned before saying, "sorry…" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "what are you apologising for? You didn't do anything," he replied, watching Sakura's face speak nothing but sadness.

"For bringing up the subject," Sakura murmured, not really wanting to say anything more about the subject.

Kakashi shook his head with a sigh, "Sakura, I don't mind telling you about my past; all you did was ask and I'm just answering your question," he smiled softly and placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder for reassurance.

Sakura sat with a blank expression fazed on her face and looked down at her sleeping bag, "the reason I asked was because I saw a younger version of you and your fiend Obito crushed under a rock and giving his Sharingan to you. I then saw a younger version of you, and you were in the darkness…" Sakura sounded as though she was about to cry at the visions of her dreams.

"I guess you still had some of my chakra in your system," Kakashi noted, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.

Sakura stared at her hands, slight puzzlement in her weary expression. She glanced to the older Jounin beside her and a small smile tugged at her lips. She saw Kakashi return the smile in the same state she was: sleepy.

"We'd better get some rest so we'll be up and ready for anything," Kakashi advised, lying back down on his side and his back facing the pink haired Kunoichi.

Sakura felt the need to hug him, but she couldn't just hug someone; besides, it was Kakashi she would be hugging, her former sensei and someone who probably would show no emotion if need be. Sighing softly to herself, Sakura lay down with a light huff and drifted off to sleep again in hopes of a better dream than the last.

Unfortunately, Sakura's dreams didn't get any better; in fact, they got worse. More dreams about the loss of a very close friend, who had torn her heart to shreds after his death, taunting her, torturing her in every possible way. Sakura didn't know how long it would take before her actions got the better of her and she'd end up killing herself because of it.

She sat up, sweaty from the dreaded nightmare and panting heavily. Only now did Sakura realise that Kakashi wasn't in the tent and nor was her surroundings so dark. It had to be only one thing: Kakashi was awake and it was already morning. Before Sakura decided to make an appearance and breathe in the fresh air, she felt a cold pang in her heart; something she knew would come up eventually. It was guilt. Yes, Sakura was feeling guilty, but over what?

'_I have to tell him__but I don__t know if I should_,' she thought, fearing her own memories.

Slowly, Sakura tidied herself up to make herself ready for the day. When she got out of the tent, the day had started out cloudy and noticed that it could rain at any time. This meant that Sakura and Kakashi had to keep a close eye out.

Standing to take in the fresh scent of the morning rise, Sakura sensed a familiar presence behind her, "morning, _sensei_," she started in a slight tease. Kakashi, who was lazily standing behind her to greet her to the cloudy morning, rolled his eyes.

"Morning _kid_," Kakashi slurred, ruffling the medic's pink hair playfully.

Sakura pouted frustratingly and swatted the man's hand away from her head and folded her arms across her chest. Ignoring the already annoyed Kunoichi, Kakashi gazed upon the grey sky and sighed, "I'm guessing it's going to rain today, no doubt about it," he shifted his weight to the other leg and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

After breakfast, Kakashi and Sakura packed their things and carried on with their journey to the next village in hopes of a warm bed to sleep in and a well earned hot shower. Sakura's mouth watered at the thought; she really needed the pampering right about now.

It started calm, despite Kuro and Kitsune racing about in between the two Jounins' legs to play with one another. Suddenly there was a loud thundering sound, frightening the two foxes out of their skins and instantly jumped up to the nearest person: Kakashi.

Sakura giggled at Kakashi's sudden expression. Kakashi chuckled at the two foxes as they tried to find every way to hide from the thunder and lightning, "it's okay you two, you won't get hurt," he assured, trying to pat the trembling foxes without dropping them. Sakura rolled her eyes and made her way to Kakashi's side, "Kitsune, it's alright," she said, reaching under the silver haired man's arm where the brown fox clung in fear. The medic felt Kitsune's body quiver against her touch and popped her head from under Kakashi's arm and saw Sakura's trusting smile.

Gently the Kunoichi pulled Kitsune from Kakashi's arms and into her own. Kitsune warily eyes the dark clouds above, growling at them. Again, Sakura rolls her eyes and started walking, "we'd better hurry if we want to stay dry," before Sakura could get any further ahead of Kakashi, she felt something on her head that she didn't want to have happen so soon.

Sakura looks up, squinting her eyes the second she felt the rain drop on her face. Nooo, rain! Not only was Sakura feeling miserable about wanting to tell Kakashi the truth, but it was raining too? This was something she should've seen coming.

"Lovely," Kakashi sighed, allowing Kuro to hide under his arm without getting wet.

The two now disappointed Jounins staggered their way down the road in the rain, not really bothered by the fact that they were soaking wet.

As the day progressed, Sakura was getting cold and it was still raining; she just wanted to reach the next village in time and get herself cleaned up and warm. Kakashi wasn't really bothered by the rain, in fact he rather enjoyed it, getting a bit wet here and there and smelling the fresh scent of rain on the ground and forestry.

He thread his fingers through his wet and silver hair, flicking the water from his hand that he had collected in his silver mane. Sakura didn't bother; she was too perturbed about telling Kakashi the truth, '_I have to tell him__but I don__t know how_,' she told herself inwardly, sighing deeply as she felt Kitsune moving around in her arms.

Sakura had thought that this day could not get any worse, but she spoke too soon. In one careless and almost blind step, Sakura had face planted right into a muddy puddle. Kakashi immediately rushed over - without slipping over himself, and checked to see if his former student was okay.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" he wondered, trying his best to hide the amusement he found just by watching Sakura try and sit up.

"Yeah," Sakura spat out a mouthful of mudded water and wiped her face.

Kitsune leapt straight out of the puddle and onto the path, shivering immensely and looking so freaked out. Again, Kakashi tried not to laugh but he couldn't help it. The light chuckle turned into a laugh he couldn't hold back.

Sakura looked up with one eye closed, "what's so funny?" she asked, trying to get up but kept slipping back into the mud.

"I'm sorry Sakura…I just haven't seen something…this funny in a long time," he bellowed, making an effort to control his mirth.

Soon, Kakashi gained control of himself and put his bag down, reaching out a hand, which Sakura gladly took without any objections. Slowly Kakashi pulled the medic to his feet before being pulled down with Sakura the second she skidded along the slippery surface of the mud and plunged into the puddle with Sakura on top of Kakashi.

Sakura sat up, wiping the mud from her eyes and spat out more water, "aw man," she moaned, glancing down at Kakashi, who bore the same expression as she and sighed audibly, "sorry about that," he uttered, sitting up as well and wiping the mud off his mask.

This rain wasn't getting them anywhere. Each time Sakura and Kakashi tried to get up, they fell back down in a more awkward position, "this isn't working," Kakashi said finally, looking over to the two drenched foxes and sighing again for the nth time.

Sakura said nothing, but gave Kakashi a mischievous look that made him feel very suspicious about what the medic was about to do next.

"Damn it," she hit the water with her hand and splashed Kakashi.

Kakashi shook his head and rubbed his lone visible eye, "hey, what was that for?" he asked, ready to splash her back. Sakura gave him a glare, "what? This?" Sakura splashed him again, this time on purpose.

Kakashi felt the cold water splash on his face and in his eye, "okay that's it," he stated plainly, dipping his hands in the water and throwing two big handfuls of sloppy mud at the medic's face. At an instant, Sakura flicked the mud from her eyes and dove at the silver haired man. The two rolled around in the muddy puddle for god knows how long, wrestling until both were exhausted.

Mud thrown at each other and both perhaps covered in soon-to-be bruises, Sakura and Kakashi finally stopped; both resting next to one another, panting heavily and now already tired.

"Well…" Kakashi said, catching his breath, "that was fun,"

"Yeah…" Sakura sat there, completely muddy from the wrestle and totally soaked.

They looked at one another before both bursting into laughter, "you should've seen the look on your face," Sakura started, laughing hysterically as she pointed at the muddy Jounin next to her.

Kakashi shook his head while laughing still, before finally containing his mirth and noticing that Sakura seemed a bit uneasy about something, "come on, we'd better get out of here before we get sick," he finally gained the balance to stand up straight and he held out a hand to Sakura.

Slowly, Sakura took his hand and was steadily lifted to her feet, slipping only once before being grabbed. She felt Kakashi's arms pull her up and being lead onto a more solid place to stand.

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**Author's notes:** Okay...yeah, this is the real chapter twentyone okay? Yeah, and again I am _really_ sorry for submitting the wrong chapter. I just hope it won't happen again :S. So anyway, I liked this chapter because it had a funny scene with Kakashi and Sakura wrestling in the mud with each other in the rain. I hoped you liked this chapter, and I'll have the next one up as soon as I can XD.


	22. Chapter 22: Relived And Revealed

**Author's notes:** Okay, I'm just going to just say, "this is one the stupidest mistakes I have _ever_ done on " I did a _major_ spoiler just then, so for that gomen :S. But anyways, I don't want to make this whole thing depressing for me so yeah. I was absolutely blown out of my pants when I reached nine previews in Chapter Twenty, and it's all thanks to you guys who are reading my story and reviewing, I thank you all. So here we have it, Chapter Twentytwo: Relived And Revealed, yes it's the same chapter that I accidentally submitted as being chapter twentyone. The title of this chapter basically says it all. Love you lots, enjoy .

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CHAPTER TWENTYTWO: RELIVED AND REVEALED

The two remained silent for the remainder of the day and Sakura was getting annoyed with herself. She trusted Kakashi with her life; more than anyone she ever knew in her life.

'_I__ve known Kakashi too long not to tell him anything, but now__s not the right time_,' Sakura felt the uncertainty sink in, but she was feeling more confident in telling him.

The rain had yet to stop and the two Jounins with their foxes were getting tired. The day was nearing its end and Sakura and Kakashi needed a place to shelter for the night and get out of the rain.

Kuro and Kitsune were already drenched and Sakura was barely able to stand the pressure of her secret. And why now? Why was her body reacting to her regrets now? Maybe something in her was finally giving up, causing her to want to tell the world what she did.

"Look!" Kakashi shouted in hope and pointed ahead.

What Sakura didn't quite notice was how long she and her former sensei had been travelling for and she hadn't noticed the large shed ahead on the road. The two sighed blissfully in relief as they made their way as quick as they could.

"Finally, a place to shelter from the rain," Kakashi announced, jogging to the building.

Sakura ran after the other Jounin until they were both running side-by-side towards the shed. They entered the quiet shed, checking their surroundings in case someone was in there and both sighed in unison.

The shed had plenty of space; there were hay bails lying around where Kitsune and Kuro were playing and the place smelt musty, but it had to do for now. Sakura placed her backpack on the ground and pulled out her sleeping bag to only find it wet and soggy. Quickly, she laid it out on the ground, making sure that the straws of hay had been cleared beneath her stuff before doing so and sighed.

Kakashi swept the hay straws away and found a small pile of chopped wood, "I sure hope whoever owns this place won't mind us staying here for the night," Sakura wondered, leaning against the itchy hay bail with a huff.

"And I'm sure whoever owns this place won't mind us using their firewood," Kakashi added casually as he carried the wood to the small clearing of the shed.

Soon, Kakashi had lit the fire and hung up their wet clothes, including their sleeping bags. Kuro and Kitsune lay sleepily together in front of the fire, warming up as they cleaned themselves. Sakura, who was now in dry clothes, sat in front of the fire, pondering deeply over her secret.

Kakashi was busy cleaning out his bag and preparing food for the two and the foxes. He often glanced at the pink haired medic, wondering what she was so worried about, '_wonder what__s gotten Sakura all worked up?_' he thought, doing the things he needed to do.

After eating and their sleeping bags had gotten dry enough to be slept in, Sakura and Kakashi had settled down and stared aimlessly at the orange flames. There was often the lightning strike and thunder, startling both Kuro and Kitsune, and Sakura would look out at the weather and hope it would clear in the next day.

Not long after, it was probably about 11 p.m. when Sakura had finally decided to get some sleep; at least that's all she could do right now, sleep.

"_It's your fault he died…it's your fault his dreams were shattered…and it's your fault for all the pain caused to the village…"_

_Sakura stared into the boy's dark eyes, trying to fight back against what he was saying to her, "no, it's not," she protested and tried to punch the raven haired boy to only find herself punching nothing but the air._

_Sasuke reappeared behind her with a serious glare and grabbed the back of her neck, "it is Sakura…you did it, you destroyed his dreams and you will live the rest of your life in agony and defeat…" he paused, slowly squeezing his grip on the medic's neck to only receive an elbow in his gut._

"_NOOO!"_

Sakura shot upright, breathing quickly and shaking from her dream. Again. These dreams were torture for the poor Kunoichi and she couldn't handle the pain much longer.

Crying already, Sakura just let her emotions take over and allowed herself to fall apart just like that. She knew she was stronger than that, but her emotions were her weakness; if anything, Sakura would cry over the slightest of things. But she was a Kunoichi, a _female_ ninja; there should be a law about female ninjas that they should be allowed to have emotions. After all, women bare more emotions than men, but that was no excuse to Sakura.

She pounded her fists to the ground frustratingly and continued to cry, "I can't stand it anymore," she murmured to herself before receiving a slurred reply.

"Stand what?" said the low and tired voice next to her.

Sakura looked to her right to find Kakashi looking over at her with worry in his lone visible eye. At first she didn't know what to say, but then she realised what she had done, "I'm sorry Kakashi, I didn't mean to wake you," she uttered softly before the thunder and lightning got the better of her.

Kakashi shook his head, "it's okay, couldn't really sleep much myself; the storm was a bit loud," he grinned tiredly before frowning at the sight of Sakura's sadness.

"Is there something you want to talk to me about?" he asked, no signs of sentiment other than concern.

How could Kakashi know this so quickly? Was Sakura that obvious? Sakura felt her memories coming back already. No. She didn't want to hurt Kakashi too. She shook her head to rid the thoughts from her head and made eye contact with the silver haired Jounin.

She felt her tears well up in her eyes as she finally said, "did…Tsunade-shisou ever tell you the cause of Naruto's death…?" she paused; she felt her throat wanting to close up to prevent her from talking and make her forget about everything.

Kakashi's eye widened slightly, "yeah…he was cursed with a type of jutsu and killed himself…why?" things were starting to sound unclear for the silver haired Jounin when Sakura asked him that.

Sakura closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, "because he didn't kill himself…" she trailed off, not really trusting herself anymore about what she was going to say.

Silence.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, feeling her words stutter, "it was my fault he died…" she uttered. Kakashi couldn't believe this could he?

"No, Tsunade-sama said Naruto killed himself because of the curse," Kakashi didn't want to believe it.

Sakura shook her head and that's when she burst into tears again, "you don't understand Kakashi…" she took a small breath and continued as she stared sobbing at her feet, "I killed him!" there, she said it.

Kakashi felt something twang inside and his heart plummet to his feet, "what? No!" he shuffled his way to Sakura and welcomed her in a hug, "you couldn't have killed Naruto; you were on the ground when I-" Sakura pulled away from Kakashi's arms, "it was an accident," right after Sakura had said those words, Kakashi stopped in his movements.

"An accident?" he asked, looking very worried where this was going.

Sakura nodded with her eyes closed and took a deep and calming breath, "when I was on a mission with Naruto, Sai and Yamato-sensei three years ago, we were separated in an ambush. Fortunately for me I found Naruto from the trees, but when I found him he was with Sasuke," she finally said.

Kakashi didn't say anything; he just sat there and listened. The thunder struck again as Sakura continued.

"I didn't want to interfere, knowing Naruto wanted this fight, so I watched from the trees. Naruto and Sasuke didn't move, they just stared at one another until Naruto finally spoke to him, asking him questions. Sasuke ignored the questions and said something about not wanting to fight him, that he had other business to attend to…"

Sakura paused, gulping nervously and said, "I saw him create handsigns and purple chakra was produced when he said something about seeing him soon. He appeared right in front of Naruto and placed his palm on his stomach and he announced the jutsu and Naruto flew back from the force," frowning deeply, Sakura took another deep breath to calm herself down and collected her memories.

"Naruto got up and stared at Sasuke as he walked off. Before Sasuke disappeared, he looked in my direction with the same cold glare he gave Naruto. I knew he had spotted me and after he was gone, I raced down and found Naruto staring at where Sasuke stood. I asked if he was okay right before he collapsed to the ground in pain, screaming while holding his stomach. When I touched him, he told me to back off and I noticed he had those same red eyes when he was angry," Kakashi could tell in the tone of Sakura's voice that she was about to start crying again, "I couldn't do anything to help Naruto except for waiting for Yamato and Sai to show up and return to the village,"

Sakura frowned deeply and there was a dreadful silence between them. Sakura had gone this far; she had to keep going, "when we returned to the village, Tsunade-shisou analysed Naruto's problem and said it was a dangerous jutsu Orochimaru had used once against her with her summoned slugs; she said it caused any animal to lose control. In this case, the Kyuubi that was contained inside Naruto was slowly taking over Naruto's body and he would get enraged easier than usual," another pause.

"Unfortunately, Tsunade-shisou didn't know how to reverse it and warned me to be very careful around Naruto. After Naruto was examined, everything went fine from there; Naruto was still his normal childish and foolish self and we lived normally. We trained together like you had advised once we became Jounins, but whenever things got out of hand, Naruto would get angry at the most random moments and sprout a tail or two, but it would suddenly die down after a few minutes. I knew I had to be careful around him, but I knew Naruto would soon be taken over by the Kyuubi spirit,"

Kakashi was now confused, "but that doesn't explain how you were involved in Naruto's death," he said in his worried tone.

Sakura ignored his statement and sighed as she wiped the tears from her face, "a month after Sasuke's appearance, we were supposed to meet up at the training fields to train, but he didn't show up. I knew the day before he nearly went three-tails and destroyed many sections of the fields and nearly went for me, but given that he didn't show up that day, I got worried and went to his apartment," she paused. Kakashi felt this part of Sakura's story was reaching the critical point and felt he would hate it as much as she would.

"When I reached his apartment I knocked on his front door. Upon receiving no answer but hearing voices inside, I went inside with a kunai in hand just in case. I found Naruto in his bedroom, sitting on his bed and looking out the window, away from me. When I called his name, he faced me with his cold red eyes and he was breathing heavily. I knew something was definitely wrong with him. He stood up and I noticed he was staring at me with a hungry glare as if I was an enemy to him," Sakura felt her voice stutter whenever she tried to speak at this point and tears were already making their way down the medic's cheeks.

"Suddenly Naruto attacked me. He said my name but it didn't sound like him," Sakura closed her eyes tight and felt a hand on her shoulder, "I dodged his sharp claws and he slammed the door shut so I wouldn't escape. When I saw the window, Naruto lunged at me again and screamed in pain. He managed to cut me on my arm, but I wasn't worried about that; I was worried more about Naruto's safety. I was thrown onto the bed when Naruto hit me and attempted to attack me one last time. I felt time slow down when he was up in the air; I had my kunai tight in my hand and I reacted so naturally. It was as if my ninja instincts took over from there on,"

'_No_' Kakashi thought. This couldn't be it.

"When he landed on me he didn't move. I looked into his eyes and they weren't full of anger or hate, but fear and regret. He backed away from me and when I took a look at what happened…" Sakura burst into tears and leaned against Kakashi, making him flinch in shock.

"…the kunai I was holding was sticking out of Naruto's chest. I never meant to hurt Naruto…it was an accident…" sobbing carelessly, Sakura tightened her grip on Kakashi's undershirt.

Kakashi was devastated at what Sakura was telling him; it just couldn't be true, "I saw his eyes change back to normal and his stance was him again, but I knew it was over…for good," she uttered, closing her eyes in the man's arms.

"He had blood running down from his mouth and tears down the sides of his face…he knew what he had done he could not control and he knew I didn't mean it…he said he was sorry and dropped to his knees…" Sakura cried again, not caring about what she was doing anymore.

Kakashi stared at her in sympathy as she spoke, "he said my name in pain as he lost his last breath and lay there motionless on the floor with a pool of blood around him…I couldn't do anything anymore…I lay there frozen on the floor and stared at him until you arrived…" she trailed off, knowing that was the end of her story.

Kakashi understood now, "oh Sakura, I'm so sorry," he said as he embraced the crying medic in his arms, who had no objections to cry in his arms. Sakura continued to cry in Kakashi's arms, her face buried in his shirt and her hands clutched at his arms.

Almost screaming as she cried, Sakura felt Kakashi's hand on the back of her head, stroking it gently as she sat there, "why didn't you tell me sooner?" he whispered softly before feeling Sakura's grip on his shirt tighten.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, I'm so sorry…I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't…I just couldn't…" her shoulders shook up and down from crying and she was getting tired of everything. Right now she wanted her life to end right on the spot.

"It was my fault Naruto died. I crushed Naruto's dreams to becoming a great ninja and Hokage. I-"

"Sakura, it wasn't your fault, we all knew what would happen to Naruto, even he knew that. You didn't mean to do it, you know it was an accident and you have to admit that he's gone," Kakashi interrupted, not wanting to hear Sakura curse herself with false words.

Kakashi sighed deeply as he went over on what had just happened between him and Sakura and what she told him. He couldn't believe that she had probably gone through more than he had as a child. But Sakura was no longer a child, she was an adult now. But that was beside the point. Either way, Sakura was having a hard time coping with all the pain and Kakashi had to do something about it.

Sakura didn't know what to do anymore, all she could do was cry it off until her tears had run dry and she would get used to the pain until she would die. Suddenly Sakura felt a soft pair of masked lips press on her forehead. Confused, Sakura looked up to find Kakashi staring at her seriously before he smirked at her. Sakura didn't understand what that was, but whatever it was he was showing her, the medic seemed to trust it and calmed down, resting her head on his chest.

"Memories last, but pain fades…" Kakashi whispered softly.

Sakura said nothing, but wasn't so sure what he meant. She felt his hands trail down her back and back up again, "when I lost my best friend and comrade, my sensei told me those words; something that would help me forget the pain," he trailed off, looking out at the rain and dark and cloudy night sky.

"I will always remember what happened to Obito, but the pain I went through would wither away over time and I got over it. I learned to handle a loss like this, even though it hurts," he explained, hoping Sakura would understand.

Sakura sighed as she stared aimlessly at Kakashi's toned arm and listened to his steady heartbeat. She felt Kakashi's hand on the back of her head again, "so why can't you let the pain fade and let it go," he continued calmly. Reluctantly she pulled away from Kakashi and smiled softly at him.

Now Sakura understood what those words meant and had only wished Kakashi had told her that sooner. She rubbed the back of her head tiredly and yawned loudly while rubbing her eyes, "thank you…for telling me that," she said with a small smile on her tired face.

Kakashi only grinned wider, "and for having faith in me" Sakura added, her lips tugging at a wider smile. Kakashi leaned back on his hands, "don't worry about it; even though you are my former student, it doesn't mean I can't still teach you things," Sakura only giggled.

The silver haired Jounin took a glance out the door and sighed, "we should get back to sleep if we want to reach the next village in time," he suggested, making Sakura ponder with a raised eyebrow.

Ignoring it for the time being, Sakura lay back down, watching Kakashi shuffle his way back to where he was sleeping, "goodnight Sakura-chan," he called as he let himself drop with a huff.

"G'night Kakashi," Sakura replied tiresomely, '_thank you again Kakashi_,' she closed her eyes and let sleep consume her conscious mind.

Sakura woke up from the sound of two specific foxes playing right next to her. She moaned sleepily before realising something quite obvious to her. She was blessed with a nightmare-less sleep; for the first time in so long, Sakura had actually dreamed properly without waking up crying or screaming at the top of her lungs.

Sitting up, she heard it still hadn't stopped raining, although it wasn't as bad as the day before. She looked around, checking her surroundings carefully and looking for Kakashi, who seemed to be missing for some reason.

Not minding the fact that Kakashi was nowhere to be find at this time, Sakura prepared herself for the day ahead, thinking back to last night where Kakashi had said those specific words.

She shook her head. At her own pace, Sakura started to roll up her sleeping bag and packing things up into her backpack, "good morning," announced a rather cheerful Jounin as he walked into the area where Sakura was. Sakura looked over her shoulder to find Kakashi smiling happily at her, "morning," she said simply, smiling back at the man.

"You feeling okay now?" he asked, kneeling down beside the medic.

"Yeah, much better now that I got all that lifted off my shoulders," she replied with a smile playing on her lips.

Kakashi grinned back, "that's good, now we can get on with the mission without any more distractions," he stood up and walked off to pack his bag. Sakura watched him momentarily before turning her focus on Kuro and Kitsune, who were happily play fighting with each other and rolling around.

"Here you go Kitsune," Sakura praised, holding out a handful of cat biscuits to feed to her brown fox companions.

Kuro trotted over curiously and decided to join in on the feeding. Sakura petted both foxes as they ate, having nothing to do but wait for the rain to calm down and Kakashi to get ready, '_late as always I guess_,' she thought with a grin as she glanced over at the lazy mannered Jounin.

Before long, Kakashi was ready and coincidently the rain had calmed to a mere shower, "ready to go?" Kakashi asked, putting his bag on with Kuro leaping up on his shoulder.

"Yep," Sakura muttered as she held Kitsune in her arms.

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**Author's** **notes:** YAAHAA! End of the saddest chapter I'll ever probably write for a looong time. I hope you guys liked this chapter, I gave it a little bit of fluff so yeah. I hope you liked this chapter, and for the kami-knows-how-many-times-now, I am sorry for spoiling it for you guys and I hope it won't happen again throughout the rest of the story. Anywho, I hope you liked this chapter (again :P) and I'll have the next chapter up asap . Now reviews please XD.

**PS:** I personally have to admit that I practically cried when I wrote up this chapter, and that song I was listening to didn't help much either; it was a really sad song so yeah. Just to be sure, seen the fact that I found this chapter so moving, I was just wondering if you fellas were. If so, be honest and let me know, if you cried like a pansy like I did, share the news :P


	23. Chapter 23: Final Encounter

**Author's notes:** HAZAAH! Man, I can't believe how moving the last chapter was OMG OMG! But now that we are up to date and I am wide awake with the uploading (not that I ever was tired while uploading to begin with), we can get the next chapter up and running. I am currently working on chapter twentyfive, and I might end up waiting a wee while (about a week; more or less) to get further ahead, or trying so hard to catch up, then I'll end up updating the second I've finished each chapter. But I'm a fast typer so I'll get through it with a little ease. So here we have it, Chapter Twentythree: Final Encounter. What's going to happen? Read and find out, enjoy .

CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE: FINAL ENCOUNTER

The two Jounins didn't bother about trying to stay dry, they knew it would only waste dry clothes as well as time. Ever since Sakura told Kakashi about how Naruto had died, she felt like telling him almost everything she had to hide.

"You know what…?" Sakura started in an emotionless tone, "ever since that encounter with Sasuke that day, I've always felt unsafe, as though I'm being watched,"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the shower he was getting from the bad weather, "that's nonsense, even though Tsunade-sama warned us to stay on our toes about Sasuke, that doesn't mean he'd be targeting you or anything. But then again he might be after the both of us," he actually scared himself a bit there.

Sakura shook her head, "but why are we worrying so much, this is a mission to have fun, not plan ways to avoid getting targeted by a former teammate," she reached up and cuddled with the brown fox playfully.

The day was almost the same as every other day, it was now day ten on the mission, meaning there were only four more days left. Sakura hoped they would make it to the next village in time to do something fun and enjoyable.

"Why don't you read your Icha Icha books?" Sakura asked the really bored Jounin next to her.

Kakashi gave her a silent glare and looked up at the sky whilst holding his arms out to prove his point, "it's raining, my book will get wet if I read it now," he retorted with a pout.

Sakura just shrugged, "so, read it in the rain," she stuck out her tongue cheekily at the masked Jounin.

Kakashi rolled his eyes before sensing something sinister, "Sakura stop," he said firmly, grabbing Sakura's wrist. Sakura looked back at Kakashi, who bore an expression she knew well: the one that says 'we're about to be ambushed'.

"Chidori Nagashi!" came a voice from afar.

Suddenly a strike of blue lightning hit the ground a few metres in front of Sakura and was trailed along the road as if to split it. Kakashi should've been able to sense this coming, but the rain had amplified the electricity that it came in too quickly.

Sakura felt chills shoot down her spine when she finally recognised the voice. The user of the electricity technique had revealed its face, but it was something both Sakura and Kakashi feared to witness.

It was a large blood-red fox landing on the road before Sakura and Kakashi and eyed them evilly, "Team Kakashi," it said. Behind the red fox appeared someone who Sakura really didn't want to see. There in his simple robe revealing his chest and raven coloured hair stood the heir to the clan, Uchiha Sasuke.

"Finally found you," he declared with no emotion bearing on his straight face.

Sakura took a few steps back after realising what he must've been here for, "Sasuke, long time no see," said Kakashi so coolly as he placed his hand on the medic's shoulder to keep her calm.

"Hatake Kakashi, it sure has been, _sensei_," Sasuke uttered, leaning back a bit and placed a hand on the red fox's head in a mannerly fashion.

Sakura couldn't believe this boy used to be the all-that material of all fan girls in Konoha. She couldn't believe who he turned out to become. Kakashi stepped forward and grinned, "what brings you here?" he asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes, "I came for the rest of Team Kakashi. Since Sakura already took care of Naruto…" he trailed off, eyeing the medic eagerly. The red fox growled angrily at the other two foxes sitting on the other Jounins' shoulders, who only growled back.

"Aku, calm down, you can deal with them later, but right now I have my own business to attend to," his words made Sakura and Kakashi get into fighting positions.

"Why are you here?" Kakashi asked again.

Sasuke made eye contact with the silver haired Jounin and said, "like I said before, I'm here for you two, as part of my new mission," he paused, eyeing the pink haired Kunoichi, "I have avenged my clan and now a new mission has been brought up," Sakura's and Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise, "you found Itachi?" Sakura wondered and received a nod from the raven haired boy.

"Yeah, but he's dead now," he announced calmly.

Kakashi shook his head, "why are you after us?" Sasuke sighed, staying his normal and emotionless self, "I am to destroy all those who possess the Sharingan and Sakura was a witness to Naruto's demise, not to mention the cause as well," Sasuke reached back and pulled out his katana, waving it a bit and feeling the weight of the sharp blade and handle.

Both Jounins weren't liking where this was going, but ignored the way Sasuke was snickering at them. Sakura was getting freaked out at Sasuke's attitude; he sounded more alive than he did the last time she saw him, and of course seeing him that last time was a mistake.

Sasuke noticed the black and brown foxes by Kakashi and Sakura and glanced down at his own, "I suppose you haven't yet met my fox, Aku; I received him after I heard the news of Naruto's death. Such a shame to have such a loser die like that, don't you think Sakura?" Sasuke was tormenting the medic and Kakashi knew it.

"Don't talk about Naruto like that! You will take those words back," Kakashi rose his voice, making several handsigns until his hand began to glow.

Sasuke chuckled, "hah…the Chidori? Is that all you can strike at me?" he lowered his arms and snapped his fingers at the red fox by his side, "Aku, show him what a real Chidori is,"

With that said, Aku nodded his head and leapt in the air, "Chidori Nagashi!" roared the fox and an enormous amount of chakra built up in Aku's mouth. At an instant, Aku fired the jutsu, sending the lightning strike down upon Kakashi and Sakura.

Kakashi lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan and jumped into action. Before Aku's Chidori hit them, Kakashi grabbed Sakura and the two foxes and leapt into the trees.

"As expected of the Copy Ninja," Aku said huskily as he landed safely.

Sasuke looked around, not moving his head an inch and finally activating his Sharingan, "I suppose you want to know how Aku got to be this big," Kakashi sat up in the trees with Sakura and the two foxes in his arms, keeping them as quiet as possible.

Sakura reached over and grabbed Kitsune gently without startling her and making noises, "find a place to hide, quickly," she ordered desperately.

Kitsune nodded and signalled to Kuro, who nodded in reply and the two jumped off into the trees, leaving Sakura and Kakashi to come up with a plan, "Sakura, remember what Tsunade-sama told us if we met Sasuke again?" he asked the medic, knowing how Sakura would react.

"Yeah…" Sakura frowned, looking over to the road where Sasuke stood.

Kakashi felt Sakura tense up in his arms as he looked down upon her in sorrow. He slowly put her on a branch and shifted off to the next tree, "ready for this?" he asked, pulling out a kunai from his backpack.

Sakura nodded hesitantly, trying to hide the fact she would regret everything that would happen. She knew this day would come, that she would perhaps have to kill Sasuke for the safety of her friends and Konoha, but now she was sitting up in a tree, struggling to keep it together. It was obviously harder than it seemed; Sasuke was her former teammate, the one she had a crush on, and her friend. She couldn't just run up to him and kill him.

Kakashi placed his hand on the medic's shoulder and frowned, "Sakura, you need to understand; you knew this would happen and you knew you had to do it," he told her. Sakura rubbed her eyes and clenched her fists, "I know," she said firmly and pulled out a kunai from her bag.

"Lets go," Kakashi created a few handsigns and allowed chakra to flow to his right hand. Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself and prepared for the worst that could happen.

Sasuke stood there in his normal stance, making quick glances to his surroundings and smirked, "there you are…" he snapped his fingers again, making Aku leap into action. Sasuke however raised a hand, symbolising the tiger sign and vanished.

Sakura was now on her own; Kakashi had gone off to take Sasuke on from another angle, leaving her to fend for herself. She saw Aku jump at her with his razor-sharp fangs and claws. Sakura easily evaded the attack but was surrounded by several copies of the red fox.

'_How can a fox do this?_' she thought, glaring at each clone.

Each Aku clone grinned evilly as they got ready to pounce on their prey and practically rip it to shreds, "Master Sasuke has taught me well, and I see that you haven't even learned to see which clone is real," he growled.

Sakura grinned, "I don't need to know where the real one is," and with one clean movement, she penetrated her chakra laden fists into the ground, causing the earth to crack and explode under the Aku clones and making them disappear in a cloud of smoke.

She suddenly felt a cold pain shoot through her arm and fell to the ground. Sakura looked up to find Aku nearly standing over her with blood on one of his claws. He took a few paces from the medic and generated a large amount of chakra, "not even a fair fight," Aku jumped up into the air. Sakura knew what was going to happen next; she had seen him do it only moments ago.

"Chidori!" the chakra was released through his jaws and at the near helpless Jounin.

Luckily, Sakura was smart enough to avoid such an attack without being rescued. Swiftly, she pounded her fists into the ground, causing the earth to rise in front of her as a shield. The chakra hit the earth wall and Sakura quickly pushed herself back and hit the ground more to create more platforms to protect herself from the jutsu.

Aku got up after having no success in laying a scratch on the medic from that jutsu and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sakura stood up, allowing chakra to poor through her hand and into her arm where the injury bled considerably. She promptly sensed the fox's chakra and faced him with a punch that sent him flying into a tree.

Sakura had to watch out, Aku was very fast and she was only lucky enough to have hit him. Not only that, but those attacks were affecting Sakura's muscles and soon it would wear her down. Aku shook his head vigorously and got up on all fours. Without a word or any threats at all, Aku sped toward the pink haired Kunoichi as fast as he could.

She didn't even see him until she hit the ground. Again, Aku went back for more, repeatedly running back and forth with his extreme speed and slashing Sakura at every split second he got. Before long, Sakura could barely handle the pain any longer and she would soon get herself killed by a fox.

"I have to hand it to you, you're the first victim to have survived this long against my speed, but that's not enough to stop me," Aku glowered deathly at Sakura with his dark eyes.

Sakura lay there, bleeding from many areas of her body and feeling every limb sting with pain. She hoped this wouldn't be the way it would end for her; she wanted to die fighting, not die in the claws of a damn fox. She wanted to make sure Kakashi would be alright, and…in fact, Sakura didn't want to die at all.

She tried to build up enough chakra and get her timing just right to hit Aku or kill him at her best thought. Aku smirked before launching himself at her with his jaws agape. Sakura braced herself for a beating when all of a sudden, a familiar brown fox jumped in and smashed Aku aside.

"Kitsune?" she sat there with her mouth open at what Kitsune had just done.

Kitsune had indeed rammed Aku away from Sakura to protect her. Kuro no doubt stood next to the brown fox, just as determined to help Sakura as Kitsune.

The two foxes stood in fortitude to protect their master and friend. Kuro rushed to help Sakura. He meowed and growled softly at the medic, as if trying to tell her something, but Sakura could understand by the worry in the black fox's eyes and when he was nudging her away from Aku.

"Is Kakashi okay?" Sakura asked, to only receive an ominous frown from Kuro.

Sakura knew what it meant, "thank you Kuro, and be careful, the both of you," she gave Kuro and peck on the top of his head and took off into the trees.

Aku growled angrily and attempted to chase after Sakura but was hit back by Kitsune again, "you little foxes can't hold me back," he warned, lowering his head to asses the situation.

The sound of metal hitting metal was all that could be heard when Sakura got closer to the open road. She finally managed to hide behind a tree far away so Sasuke and Kakashi couldn't sense her presence.

"You've gotten strong, Sasuke," Kakashi said panting as he dodged aimlessly from Sasuke's countless attacks.

Sasuke only smirked, "that's not all I have," he paused as he jumped back from a heavy kick from the Copy Nin, "when I found Aku I knew it meant something, so we trained until he grew almost five times his original size and he became immensely strong," he continued, making numerous handsigns.

"Katon: Gogakyou no Jutsu!" Sasuke announced and breathed a lungful of fire from his mouth and at Kakashi, who only countered with the same attack.

Right after using the Fire Style jutsu, Kakashi made more handsigns and said, "Water Dragon no Jutsu," and with that the rain was collected along with the puddles around him to create a huge dragon made of water. It roared menacingly as it fired itself toward the raven haired Uchiha.

It was a direct hit, but alas Sasuke disappeared, leaving a log. Kakashi cursed, '_the Replacement Jutsu…_' he felt the air change and was smashed forward before landing with his hands and flipping himself upright and facing the attack head on.

Kakashi shook his head to rid himself of the unbalanced and dizzy feeling surging through him suddenly. He eyed Sasuke with his mismatched eyes before unexpectedly saw four, no five snakes shoot from Sasuke's arm and aimed at Kakashi.

"Striking Shadow Snake!" Sasuke shouted and as quick as he could, Kakashi jumped up in hopes of dodging the snakes but felt one bite into his ankle and then the lot gripped onto his body with their fangs.

Kakashi was vigorously heaved towards Sasuke and was punched right in the gut, sending him backwards and plummeting to the ground and sliding until he hit the trees behind him. The silver haired Jounin panted as he tried to get back up again. Building up the remainder of his chakra to his right hand and got ready to use his infamous technique.

Hopefully Kakashi was fast enough to hit Sasuke and kill him. Charging up his chakra as fast as he could, Kakashi got up and raced toward the Uchiha boy, "Chidori!" he yelled, thrusting his chakra charged arm at Sasuke at lightning speed.

He felt something hit, but it wasn't what he was targeting. He glared at the inanimate object with his fist jammed through it. He felt the replacement log weigh him down before he was punched recurrently until Sasuke's knuckles bled from the force. Kakashi's fist finally wedged out of the log and tried to block his movements but Sasuke was too quick for him.

Sasuke repeatedly threw his fists and feet at him, causing major damage to the Copy Ninja until the raven haired ninja slammed him into the ground hard using his chakra. Kakashi landed on his back, eyes widening from the pain and lay there motionless for a moment or two.

Sakura gasped, '_Kakashi can__t be defeated, there__s just no way he can_,' she closed her eyes tightly and tried to wish a way she could help him out, but nothing came up.

Kakashi lay hopelessly on the ground as he watched Sasuke charge up his Chidori and let it run into his sword, "too bad Kakashi, you were quite the challenge," Sasuke stated as he aimed his katana at the silver haired Jounin.

Was this finally it? Was Kakashi finally defeated? '_The time has finally arrived_' Kakashi said inwardly as he stared tiredly at the Uchiha heir.

'_It__s not over yet Sakura, Naruto didn__t want you to watch Kakashi die right before your eyes. Prove to him that you _can_ do something_,' Inner Sakura spat, punching the air viciously as if trying to smack some sense into Sakura's brain.

"Chidori Nagashi," Sasuke shot the electrifying chakra through his katana and aimed it at the near-defeated Copy Nin before…

Everything went slow when Kakashi felt the blood splatter on his masked face. He had only just realised what had happened. The Copy Nin gazed in awe at the sight before him.

"Sa-Sakura?" he uttered as he stared at the unbalanced figure of Sakura before him.

Sakura winced as she felt the pain finally take affect. Her legs felt numb when she stared into Sasuke's dark eyes.

Kakashi was supposed get hit by Sasuke's jutsu, wasn't he? But he didn't feel the pain, instead, he found himself staring at his former student, standing at a limp and nearly dropping dead.

Hacking out blood, Sakura glared at Sasuke, who only stared back in slight surprise, "Sakura…why?" Kakashi asked in total shock.

Sakura coughed out more blood then fell to her knees, groaning at the pain in her stomach, "because…you…always protected me…" she muttered, grasping at the mud at her sides.

Kakashi forced himself to get up and he slowly made his way to Sakura, who was ready to pass out from the pain. Kakashi knew Sasuke would attempt to kill him, but he never expected Sakura to jump in front of him and take the hit; she wasn't supposed to.

"Sakura…"

"I couldn't…let my teammates get killed just like that now could I?" Sakura felt tears well up in the back of her eyes.

Kakashi grabbed Sakura right before she fell to the ground and saw the ominous look in her eyes, "but Sakura…you didn't have to do this," he said, staring at Sakura, who only looked back with a tired and distressing expression on her face.

Sakura grinned lightly as she looked over at Sasuke, who only waited patiently, "you dumbass, I'm a medic…I could easily heal myself," she uttered in pain as she returned her gaze to the shocked Copy Nin holding her.

"You're a fool Sakura…" Sasuke threatened as he lowered his sword.

Sakura ignored the statement and reached her hand over her stomach to try and heal the injury, but she didn't have enough chakra. This was the first time Sakura could see such a powerful emotion surging from Kakashi; it almost looked like he was about to cry. She took a deep and steady breath, trying to focus her chakra to through her hand, before feeling a larger hand over hers.

Sakura sat up, moving Kakashi's hand away from her and stood up, "Kakashi…I want to help you…it's my turn to save your ass," she straightened up as she gave Sasuke a death glare.

Kakashi said nothing but stood beside her to help. Kakashi didn't understand it: Sakura should've been on the ground and perhaps even dead, but why was she acting as though it was nothing? Why Sakura was acting this way he didn't know.

Sasuke merely laughed, "interesting to see my team turn against me like that; I thought you'd be more determined to get me back home,"

"As orders of the Hokage herself, we have been ordered to kill you when we found you," Sakura spoke boldly.

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**Author's notes:** Okay, I'm not very good with fighting scenes, but that's up to you readers out there, so let me know if I did okay :). Yup, yup, chapter twentythree is out now, and I think it's a good one XD. I kinda made Sasuke the real emo-bully-guy-with-no-emotions-who-beats-the-living-hell-out-of-his-former-teammate-and-teacher, but that was to make the scene a little more exciting for you. Like I said earlier, the next chapter might come a little later, perhaps in about a week or so, it all depends on how far I get on the story. And speaking of story, we're about two thirds through now...pretty far huh? So yeah, I hope you liked this chapter, now reviews please


	24. Chapter 24: Final Decision

**Author's notes:** Heyo, we are getting closer and closer to the end, and I feel bad because after completing this story, what will I do :S? Leaving you readers out there isn't an option. I really enjoy writing stories and letting other people read them; that way I get to know what their opinion is on each chapter as they read. But I'm not disappearing any time soon, not without completing my story and saying goodbye, and that's a promise . So yeah, beside all that, here is the next chapter from your beloved Narutard, racing out and about to get a move on in the story. Again I would like to thank everyone for keeping me posted about what you think about each chapter, I appreciate it a _lot _and will keep in mind how eager you are to read on :P. So here you have it, Chapter Twenty Four: Final Decision. Enjoy XD.

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CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR: FINAL DECISION

This was new. Kakashi had never seen Sakura so angry before; not in a physical way, but inside he could see it. Sakura didn't care in the world what her emotions did to her and that it didn't get her anywhere, "you were responsible for Naruto's death…you will pay for that," she demanded with tears cascading down the sides of her face.

_Meanwhile..._

"Foolish little fox…there's no way you can possibly beat me against my speed," said the dark blood-red fox as he looked down upon the injured Kitsune.

Kitsune, who was basically pinned down by Aku, whined in pain as she lay there, trying to make sure she wouldn't get her head bitten off while she thought up a way to get out.

Aku grinned before having the right mind to attempt to kill her before he was knocked over by surprise. Aku rose, wondering what could've hit him like that, but when he checked what did that, he couldn't find anything but the field from where he stood seconds ago.

The black fox set Kitsune down behind the bushes, nudging her to get up. The two exchanged soft growls and meows until Kuro finally managed to speak, "we need to stop Aku before things get out of hand," Kitsune nodded without a word and the two sprung out of the bushes.

Kuro and Kitsune oozed chakra from their tiny bodies, "Kuro, why do I feel this way?" Kitsune asked, worrying over the power she had.

"It's the Kyuubi's chakra; we need to use it now," replied the black fox in confidence.

Aku laughed, "why do you persist on fighting when there is no hope left for you little kittens," he bowed his head to keenly observe the foxes before him, '_their chakra is different than before_,' he thought, keeping his guard up no matter what the circumstances were.

Suddenly there was a strange and heavy feeling in the atmosphere, and both Kuro and Kitsune were feeling it. They felt their body change drastically when the red chakra surrounded them: their claws became sharper and they grew slightly larger. Once their eyes were open, they were no longer green and blue, but in fact red like the Kyuubi itself and Aku's.

Kuro's red eyes were different however.

Aku shook his head, "die!" he roared, speeding toward them as fast as he could and was ready to use his Chidori, when suddenly…_whack!_ Aku was sent flying back the way he came and plummeted to the ground with a dull thud. The two smaller foxes exchanged glances before diving at the red fox and attacked with everything they had.

Kitsune was miraculously stronger than before and every hit she made with her tail and limbs injured Aku considerably. Kuro was much faster now and he could see things before they even happened.

Aku couldn't understand what was going on at this point. He was suddenly weaker than Kuro and Kitsune. He was smashed into a thick tree by the brown fox and lay there motionless for a moment or two.

"How…?" Aku winced as he tried to get up, but realised his leg was broken.

Kuro glowered at the blood-red fox and jumped at him with claws raised. His Kyuubi-chakra enhanced body made his slash feel like someone tore a limb off cleanly yet slowly to let the pain linger.

Soon enough, Kuro and Kitsune felt the red chakra fade away and they were themselves again. They stared at the motionless body of Aku as he lay slain under a tree; it was finally over. Kuro sensed a large amount of chakra being released and an explosion was heard, "Sakura and Kakashi need us, lets go," he yelled in a slight whine.

Kuro began running off toward the sounds before he heard a cry in pain, "Kuro!" shouted the panicking brown fox as she was being dragged away from Kuro.

The black fox turned around to find Aku lashing out his razor-sharp claws at Kitsune and dragged her closer to her demise. Kuro quickly dashed to Kitsune and hauled her away from the demonic fox, "don't you _dare_ get near her!" he shouted, trying to intimidate Aku, but alas Aku was more frightening.

Aku got up with all his strength could muster and roared at the black fox, grabbing him with his strong claws. Kuro felt his breath shorten every second Aku tightened his grip around his neck and felt the red chakra come back.

The Kyuubi's chakra escaped from the point at where Aku held Kuro around the neck and trailed up the fox's arm. Aku's eyes widened as he felt his frontal leg burn from the chakra. Kuro then got angry, "get…away!" he roared loudly until the chakra exploded and lashed out at Aku's face.

Aku immediately let go of Kuro's neck and felt the chakra burn his face and the rest of his body, "AAARGH!" he wailed agonizingly as he flew back and landed on his side, unable to rid himself of the blazing chakra.

The Kyuubi's chakra surrounded Kuro's entire body as he stared at the tortured fox. He roared again and the chakra lead from his own head and morphed into an arm and latched itself around Aku's neck and lifted him off the ground. Saying nothing at all, Kuro watched as Aku shivered in pain and torment until the chakra had destroyed him inside and disintegrated into nothing, leaving only a small pile of ashes on the ground from Aku's blood.

Kuro's rage died down and was himself again. He risked his own life to save Kitsune's, forcing himself to resort to a regretful move that left him confused. He checked up on Kitsune, who was only stunned by the sudden grip Aku gave her, but other than that, she was okay.

"Lets go," Kuro said, helping her out and the two dashed off to the rescue.

Sakura was knocked back for the third time already; she didn't know how long Sasuke would play around before getting annoyed and killing her and Kakashi.

"Enough of this…time to end it," Sasuke grunted as he raised his katana and leapt in the air.

Kakashi joined him in an aerial hand-to-hand fight before Kakashi was smashed back down quickly, "he's too fast for my body to keep up," he cursed for not being fast enough, but he couldn't do anything about that.

Sakura stood there, ready to pound the living hell out of Sasuke the second he came close to her. More handsigns from where he was, Sasuke took a deep breath and unleashed his fire technique down at Sakura, who only jumped at it with a kunai in her hand.

The fire was a direct hit and sent Sakura back down and landed flat on her back and hacked out blood at an instant. Sasuke, who was still airborne, received an unexpected blow to the back of the head and dropped his katana and crash-landed into a tree.

Sakura lay there, unable to move her muscles at the time, and saw the katana come flying down right at her. Kakashi unfortunately was making many handsigns and followed Sasuke into the tree with his Chidori.

Sakura felt her life pass by as soon as she saw the sword come down. Still staring, she felt the katana hit the ground, but right by her face. It was less than an inch from her cheek, and if she had moved earlier, she could've gotten that sword driven straight into her forehead - given that it's wide and not hard to miss.

The medic was snapped out of her trance and sat up, staring at the sword that stuck out of the ground. She heard a loud grunt from within the trees and saw Sasuke tossed in the air with Kakashi soon following. She saw the dramatic transformation within Sasuke that had caught her off guard.

As Sasuke was up in the air with Kakashi right under him, he allowed the second stage of his cursed seal take affect. His hand-like wings sprouted and his hair grew longer and the colour of his skin changed to a darker shade. He also formed the black cross mark across his nose and his eyes completely transformed. Sasuke noticed the worried glare in Kakashi's mismatched eyes and smirked. With one swift motion, he twisted his body around and swayed his massive wings at Kakashi, who only planted his feet on the rough surface and pushed off from there. Before attempting a good kick in the face, Kakashi's ankle was suddenly tugged at and received a fist in the face.

Kakashi fell down and recovered from the hit, landing quite safely; ignoring the ground shock he got right after. He looked up at Sasuke, who was gliding swiftly in the sky, "guess I have no choice…" Kakashi closed his eyes and focused his last remaining chakra to his left eye.

"Mangekyou Sharingan!" he announced fiercely and the atmosphere began to twist and deform.

Sasuke had to be careful now; he knew Kakashi was skilled with the Sharingan, and no doubt was he skilled with the Mangekyou, but her also knew it had a painful affect once used.

Kakashi stared at Sasuke, who quickly evaded his gaze to avoid getting sucked into another dimension and die. Another hand signal and Sasuke was ready to strike, "it won't work on me Kakashi," he warned as he came flying down with both his hands charged with the Chidori.

'_Come on, come on, hurry!_' Kakashi said inwardly as he strained to keep the jutsu going.

Sasuke came crashing down until there was a massive explosion that made Sakura worry, "Kakashi!" she shouted as she ran towards the rubble, flicking her pink and wet hair from her face.

The rain was endless as the battle went on. Sakura took a few paces back when she saw Kakashi flat on his back with Sasuke's foot pressing down on his chest, "in ends now," he declared as he finalised his last technique with the tiger sign.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Ju-"

"Sasuke stop!" Sakura interrupted loudly with tears running down her face.

Sasuke paused, slowly turning his gaze to the frightened medic on his left. Sakura took a deep breath when she faced him like that. She gulped deeply, pushing the lump down as she watched the raven haired boy's intent glare.

"You wanted me didn't you? Well here I am," Sakura dared him to try it.

Sasuke stared at her in thought, "well I am after you _and _Kakashi, but _you_ might be more of a challenge," he lifted his foot off the injured Copy Nin and slowly made his way to the pink haired Kunoichi.

'_Good going Sakura, now what?_' Inner Sakura said in complete agony and worry.

Sakura stepped back until her hand touched the blade of the katana that had nearly killed her earlier. She gripped her hand round the handle and pulled it from the muddy ground. Bravely, Sakura held the sword at Sasuke, who didn't stop to speculate and just kept walking.

Bit before Sasuke got any closer to the medic, he was knocked over by a strange and powerful blast of chakra. Sakura too was unbalanced but stood her ground. Looking to see where it came from, it was Kuro and Kitsune, both glowing red from the Kyuubi's chakra and glared at Sasuke with red and demonic eyes.

Sasuke knew what happened, "you destroyed Aku…?" he wondered, although not worried at all.

Kuro and Kitsune just glowered at the cursed raven haired boy as they crept closer to him with their red chakra mixing together, and forming the shape of the Kyuubi's head. Sasuke was no more or less intimidated by the chakra's strength and just stared at them uninterested.

The Kyuubi's head roared loudly as it moved about, as if trying to escape from the two foxes and regain its pride. Sakura stood her ground firmly with Sasuke's katana in hand; she was scared, but didn't want to show it. She stared at the raven haired boy as he eyed Kuro and Kitsune, waiting for him to strike.

Sasuke's hand-like wings twitched a bit before returning his attention at Sakura. His expression changed from a lonely grin to a serious glare in the blink of an eye and leapt at the pink haired medic. As a sudden reaction, Sakura put a foot back and prepared for the worst. She lifted the sword up at Sasuke as he came flying in and was smacked over by his arm. Sakura fell over, dropping the katana somewhere behind her as she hit the muddy ground.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at Kakashi, who was now trying to get up after the beating he had received minutes ago. Before finishing Sakura off, he felt a strong burning sensation crawling up his right leg and arm. When he noticed what it was, he saw Kuro and Kitsune latched onto his two said limbs and channelled their chakra into him and slowly began burning him.

Wincing lightly, Sasuke charged up his right hand with his chakra for the Chidori, electrocuting Kuro, the one who had his arm, and sent him into the trees with a loud thud. Sasuke looked down at Kitsune as she got more enraged with the boy and bit down harder and sending more of the Kyuubi's chakra into him.

"Stupid fox!" he shouted and punched Kitsune out of balance with his Chidori charged fist and smashed her into the ground at his feet.

The brown fox cried out with a painful yelp as she lay there by Sasuke's feet, trying to get back up. Without a word or any form of emotion, Sasuke slid his foot under Kitsune's body and tossed her aside to deal with later.

Sakura sat mouth agape as she watched Kitsune get tossed away like trash before hearing a frightened voice call out to her, "Sakura!" Kakashi sat as he held a hand over his gut and the other keeping him upright.

Sasuke moved at the speed at which Sakura couldn't react fast enough to run from and started crawling away to the katana, in hopes of a way to help herself out of this situation. She felt her heart pounding five times faster than normal when she felt Sasuke's presence get closer and closer until…

"SAKURA GET DOWN!" Kakashi shouted at the top of his lungs.

Immediately Sakura had reach of the katana by the blade and pulled it towards her. It felt deep inside that she was rushing to kill herself, but when she felt the pain in her waist she didn't care…or so she thought.

She sat in the foetal-position while still holding the blade when she felt everything around her come to a stop and knew something had happened, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

When she had realised what she felt, she didn't want to admit it. She felt her hands sting from the grip she laid on the blade and the throbbing pain in the left side of her waist. Sakura felt the warmth of a near limp body almost resting against her and heard him cringe and wince as the blood ran down from his mouth.

Sakura heard Sasuke's now husky voice as he finally reached a hand to grab her. The second it was on her shoulder, Sakura reacted. She flinched as she ignored the fact that she had driven the katana blade into her waist and out the other side into Sasuke. She ignored that the one she stabbed was her former teammate and crush. She ignored how much he used to mean to her and how painful her wounds were right now. She took a breath and gritted her teeth and grabbed the katana handle and ripped it out of her waist, pulling the flesh apart and causing more of a fuss than she started with.

The medic didn't care anymore. Sasuke had hurt her one too many times and she knew what had to be done. With those thoughts completely ignored, Sakura spun her body so she was now facing the stunned boy and uttered those same words she would always end with.

"Gomennasai…" her voice sounded cracked and husky.

Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw the glint in her eyes turn cold and saw his own death. Sakura pulled the katana out from Sasuke's gut and swiped the sword across his chest and lunged at him with the full intension of regretting it later.

It ended. Sakura felt the tense and potentially deadly boy beneath her cease his endless struggle. When she finally came to realise what she had done, it was already too late. She stared at Sasuke's bare chest with emotionless eyes and sat up, leaving the katana blade stick out from his chest.

She had only noticed mentally that she had ploughed right into the raven haired boy and drove the sword into his chest at the same time, to land right on top of him in the end. She held her breath at the sight and wished she hadn't done that.

She sat there before the motionless body of Sasuke as her tainted hands shook with blood from her once loved teammate. She felt nothing anymore but the agony of killing yet another member of her own team.

"Sakura…" Kakashi motioned, trying to get Sakura back into the real world.

The medic instantly looked over to the injured Jounin, who only stared at her in concern. She got up with the strength she had in her and stumbled her way to Kakashi's side. She held the wound she inflicted on herself and healed most of it until she made it to her former sensei.

Kakashi urged her not to heal him, but Sakura refused to listen. She shoved Kakashi's hands from his injuries and quickly began the process of healing him. Kakashi no longer had the intention of stopping her, knowing she wouldn't comply to his orders anymore, but allowed her to do what she needed to do.

Once Sakura was done healing Kakashi, she hastily worked on the rest of her own injuries and healed the tear wound in her waist. Once that was out of the way, Kuro and Kitsune had managed to crawl their way to the medic and got checked up.

Kuro and Kitsune seemed unharmed, most likely due to the unlimited chakra supply from the Kyuubi. It was strong and it would automatically heal the bearer of its red power. Sakura knew this, considering her best friend who had the Kyuubi sealed within him, it didn't take much effort at all to heal the blonde.

Kakashi saw the disappointed look in Sakura's now tired eyes and grabbed her wrists, ignoring his aches and pains all over in his muscles and made her look at him. Sakura didn't know what he was doing but the look in his mismatched eyes had explained it all. She felt her jaw shake as the tears were uncontrollably flowing from her eyes. She didn't speak, but just rest her head against Kakashi's chest, crying.

Kakashi let go of the medic's wrists and wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "it's alright Sakura…it's over now, he's gone," he rubbed Sakura's back gently to reassure her as she let her tears run down her face.

Sakura just gazed upon her blooded hands and thought about her current actions, '_was this right? Was this - what I had just done - what I was supposed to do?_' she mentally asked. She didn't expect an answer from anyone in her conscious, but just let the question sink in.

The weather poured its rain upon the land as the two worn out Jounins pulled themselves together and attempted to get over everything. Sakura helped Kakashi to his feet with the blunt help from Kuro and Kitsune and they all stumbled their way past Sasuke's dead body and out onto the road.

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**Author's notes:** Okay, I personally liked the fight with the foxes, enjoyed it a lot, (note: the foxes speak in their language, I didn't want to write their conversation in their language, such as "growl, reowr arf arf, meow rawr," that would look pretty stupid as part of the chapter, yet interesting to see how you would react, lols). I had to make the foxes use the Kyuubi's chakra, just had to use it . The ending of this chapter was a bit moopy and sad, but leaving Sasuke's dead body behind was basically my only option. What else could I have done? Have Kakashi carry around a dead body for the rest of the story and bury him in the backyard of his house? So yeah, I hope you liked it, and again, if you cried (that's an _'if'_), be honest, but I personally didn't cry myself but did have the whole, "oh my god, I feel so sorry for Sakura" thing. But anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, now reviews please .


	25. Chapter 25: Til Death Do Us Part

**Author's notes:** Woohoo! I love you guys sooooooooooooooooooooo(two minutes later)ooooooooo much, I think I'm going to cry (rubs eyes). So yeah, don't have much to say about this chapter, just noting out how close we are to the end actually, and sadly I'm nervous about the ending, just afraid to leave you behind (pouts). Nah, this is fun, for me and probably you guys. But anyway, I've kinda figured out what my rate thingy was (M), and I think I should change it to a little lower until the real juicy bits fly in, but you tell me. Just to warn you, there will be heaps of fluff, maybe that's why I rated it M; M for mature audiences folks hehe. Anyway, here's chapter twenty five, hope you enjoy it .

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CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: TIL DEATH DO US PART

Kakashi strapped the note around the small pugdog, "get this to Tsunade-sama as soon as you can, Pakkun," Kakashi ordered, ignoring the rain as he stared at the dog.

"Hai, Kakashi-san," Pakkun replied and dashed off into the trees to deliver his message.

Kakashi watched as the pugdog disappeared into the trees and off he went. With a sigh, he walked over to Sakura, who was sitting under a tree with a bare expression clear on her face.

He could tell by Sakura's posture how shocked she was from the recent event. Kakashi felt bad himself for reminding Sakura what had to be done, but he couldn't blame her; Sakura was already in a lot of pain with Sasuke around to begin with and it broke her heart when he left.

Sakura sighed as she stared in a meaningless way at her feet and felt Kitsune nudge her side to return to the reality world, but Sakura chose to ignore it.

"Ready to go? The village isn't that far now," Kakashi inclined, rubbing his sore arms glaringly.

Sakura nodded as she got up sluggishly with her bag on and shuffled past Kakashi when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Tiredly she whirled her head to find Kakashi staring at her with a worried look in his only visible eye.

Sakura saw something in his eye that she couldn't quite understand; she had never seen Kakashi with so many emotions being expressed at once, it was unlike him to show these kinds of emotions. She gazed deeply into Kakashi's dark eye and pulled a soft smile, and knowing Sakura, she didn't really mean it.

"We'll get through this Sakura-chan, don't worry," Kakashi assured, squeezing his grip briefly on the medic's shoulder before smiling sweetly.

Sakura felt something after he smiled at her like that, but didn't know what it was. She felt herself again after Kitsune demanded cuddles when she climbed up on her shoulder. What she didn't quite notice was the rain finally coming to an end.

She sighed when she looked up and not having to squint when the rain hit her eyes, "finally," Kakashi grunted as he gazed up at the clearing sky to reveal the sun in the distance.

Kakashi glanced over at the rather silent medic and sighed. He slung his bag over to the front and stood in front of Sakura with arms out and his back facing her, "come on, we'll go find a place to rest for the night," he looked over his shoulder to find Sakura ogling him with a confused look and raised an eyebrow.

The pink haired Kunoichi nodded as she climbed up on Kakashi's back and had her arms gently wrapped around the other Jounin's neck. Kakashi had his hands securing under her thighs to keep Sakura's weight against him without letting her fall and began to walk on.

Kuro and Kitsune, who were now on the ground together, merely exchanged glances as they pondered over their masters' current situation. Without further ado, the two foxes followed Sakura and Kakashi and the mission went on.

Sakura relaxed herself as she was being piggybacked along by her former sensei and rest her head on the man's shoulder. Kakashi simply grinned, knowing Sakura was calm and not to mention very tired. He couldn't help but feel for her. Right now she needed him, and that's all Kakashi wanted to do: help her.

Soon enough, Kakashi found a place to rest, reasonably dry and spacious for them to move around. Before allowing his arms to relax and let Sakura down, he hadn't noticed that she was asleep. He felt Sakura's calm breathing tickle his neck, sending slight chills down his spine. He definitely noticed the way she was practically nuzzling her face against his neck. Though he didn't want to wake Sakura from her peaceful slumber, he had to because his arms were getting tired and he wanted to sit down and sleep himself.

"Sakura-chan," Kakashi urged, softly nudging the medic with his elbow.

"Hmmm?" came the voice of the tired Sakura.

Sakura blinked a few times before coming to her senses that she had been sleeping these past ten minutes. She stretched out her arms a bit and slid off Kakashi's back and stood sleepily as the other Jounin set up camp.

After about ten minutes, Kakashi had a fire going and laid out his sleeping bag against the tree they were camping under, "Sakura-chan, can you toss me your sleeping bag," he asked as he knelt down to prod the fire momentarily.

Sakura nodded as she pulled the sleeping bag from her backpack and handed it to the other Jounin. Kakashi smiled at her and spread her sleeping bag next to his. This was when Sakura was confused. Whatever Kakashi was planning right now, she was not in the mood and she wouldn't like it anyway.

Kakashi sat down against the tree while sitting on both his sleeping bag and hers. He motioned her to sit down as well and smiled. Sakura didn't know what to do at this point, but did as she was told, knowing how tired she was right now and she didn't want to ask questions; that could wait.

Slowly, the pink haired medic made her way to Kakashi and sat down next to him. She remained silent as she allowed Kitsune to make refuge on her lap and meowed for a cuddle. Kuro was already fast asleep next to his Jounin master, and Kakashi just sighed as he scratched the black fox behind the ear.

"You feeling alright?" Kakashi asked, placing his hand on the medic's shoulder.

Sakura bit her lower lip, "yeah…" she mumbled softly, before realising that what Kakashi had asked wasn't all he wanted to say.

"Did Tsunade-sama know?" Sakura knew he would ask that.

"Yes…" Sakura pushed the lump down in her throat and continued, "I told her shortly after you brought me to her office and left to deal with the problem,"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck and gazed at the fire before him and said, "why didn't you tell me you did it?" Sakura frowned deeply, "when I told Tsunade-shisou about what I did, she knew something like that would've happened because of the danger I was in whenever I was around Naruto," she replied and stroked Kitsune as she stared at her with her big green eyes.

"But why didn't you tell me?" Kakashi asked again, this time, in hopes of Sakura actually answering his question.

Sakura should've seen this coming. Slowly, she took a deep calming breath and finally spoke, "because I was afraid you wouldn't accept it if I told you. That you wouldn't believe it was an accident," Kakashi's eye widened in surprise. Did Sakura really think he wouldn't believe her?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Sakura, whatever gave you the idea that I wouldn't believe you?" Kakashi spoke up, almost startling Sakura. She closed her eyes tight, thinking Kakashi was mad at her now.

Kakashi sighed at his own disappointment and took the time to absorb the information. Sakura sat there, ready to burst into tears from all the stress playing down on her, when she suddenly felt a hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes and looked at Kakashi, who had nothing but his masked emotions.

"Well?" he asked, this time in a more calming voice than before.

"I was just so scared, and I didn't know what to believe anymore and I suddenly began losing trust in everyone…I just…I was just so scared," Sakura began rubbing the tears from her eyes.

Kakashi removed his hand from the medic's forehead and rubbed her back warningly. Sakura absentmindedly rest her head on the other Jounin's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his upper body. Kakashi held his breath momentarily before letting his hand rest on her waist.

Sakura felt like such a child when she did that, but she felt so lonely ever since Naruto died, and now she had made it worse when she killed Sasuke too, "I hate this," she huffed under a few sobs.

"Hate what?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, as he took in the scent of Sakura's pink hair, and strangely enough, it still smelt clean.

"Being weak…I hate showing my tears…it shows how weak I am," she muttered as she lifted her head and placed it on Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi sighed as he took in the words, "no one likes to be weak, and besides, you're not weak, you're strong. If anyone else was in your position right now, they would've probably killed themselves from depression," he grinned at the medic to reassure her.

Sakura was silent a moment more, she was too busy listening to Kakashi's steady heartbeat and feeling his chest rise and fall after each breath. She didn't know why, but she felt safe now that Kakashi understood what she meant and sighed blissfully.

"Kakashi," Sakura mumbled in thought.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked down at the drowsy medic and raised an eyebrow.

"Ever since I first met you, you've seemed like a total mystery to me…" Sakura trailed off, whether or not she should dawn herself on the subject at all.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "really? What makes you seem that I'm a mystery to you?" he asked, trying to get where this was going. Sakura tensed up a bit before relaxing herself again and answering his questions, "well you wear a mask, that's one thing, and basically the only thing I knew about you back then was your name and that you had the Sharingan and that's it," feeling a bit stupid, Sakura wished she should never have brought up the subject and that she should've just gone to sleep.

Kakashi chuckled, "so you want to know a bit more about me is that it?" Sakura nodded with a 'yes' and stretched out her arm across the man's stomach.

Kakashi thought about it for a moment, "well what do you want to know about?" he blatantly asked, allowing Sakura to ask the questions she probably had listed over the years they knew each other.

Sakura sat up to look at him and asked, "how about…what's your favourite colour?" she seemed a bit eager to know little questions like that, even Kakashi was a bit surprised, "I guess that would have to be navy blue," he replied simply.

Typical Kakashi. Sakura should've known what his favourite colour was, seen the fact that he wore navy blue clothes on a daily basis, "what about you?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

Kakashi inwardly guessed she would say pink; her hair and name just screamed pink, "mine would have to be…orange," Sakura said, making Kakashi think twice.

"You don't suppose your favourite colour has anything to do with a particular hyperactive blonde would it?" Kakashi asked in a sneaky tone and grinned devilishly at the pink haired Kunoichi. Sakura's face flushed a light shade of red before shaking her head vigorously, "no!" she spat, although not making seem like she was insulted by such a question.

Kakashi merely laughed at her and watched her curious gaze turn into an embarrassed pout. The whole question about knowing Kakashi better had slipped from Sakura's mind after having a long conversation about Naruto and his crazy antics, along with the good times in Team 7.

"I still can't believe Naruto had the instinct to prank you for being so late on our first day," Sakura said, trying to contain her laughter. The two Jounins were now lying down on their own sleeping bags and sharing the good times.

Kakashi nodded his head, "yeah, I also can't believe how desperate you guys were to see what my face looked like," he reminded, making Sakura laugh again.

"Yeah, and all the ideas were pretty good too, but somehow it was like destiny didn't allow us to see your face at all," Sakura had to bite back on the word 'destiny' she almost sounded like Neji just then.

Kakashi stopped laughing at stared at the medic with an intent gaze, "not exactly; you've seen my face before…but I guess that destiny thing only counted when all three of you were working together," he chuckled lightly and lay back.

"We were close though," Sakura added, smiling softly before making eye contact with the man before her. She felt her heart race suddenly at the way Kakashi was staring at her and wondered what he was about to do.

Kakashi himself wasn't too sure what he was doing, and by any chance he had to stop before he made the situation worse, "real close…but not close enough," he added to Sakura's last statement and rest his head on his arm with a small smile plastered on his masked face.

After a moment of silence, Sakura felt bad memories starting to return to her conscious and urged herself not to let them get to her. Kakashi noticed the way she was almost physically straining, making him question himself what she was doing.

"You okay?" he asked, sitting up and leaning against the tree again.

"No…" well that was honest of Sakura. What's next? A major confession? Sakura sat up and rubbed her arm tiredly, "I just can't stand my memories coming back to haunt me all the time. First Naruto…now Sasuke…" she felt the tears run down her face and cursed herself for letting them escape her emerald eyes.

Kakashi sighed and looked up at the clearing night sky, "after my other teammate went missing and heard that she was killed by a rogue S-Rank ninja, I didn't know what to think but that it was somehow my fault. It soon hit me that it wasn't my fault, but that I was only torturing myself because of my beliefs," he paused to clear his throat and continued, "I had realised how much she had cared for me when I needed her, and told myself that I didn't have anything to do with her death. I soon got over the loss and moved on,"

The silver haired Jounin sighed as he gazed at the night sky and listened to the crickets in the swampy patches of grass, before he felt a small amount of weight press down on him. When he looked over to see what it was, he found Sakura wrapping her arms around his body and snuggling up to him. This was creepy even for his standards, but he didn't want to ruin the precious moment.

Kakashi knew he would regret doing this, and no doubt could he get rid of the thoughts occurring at this moment. He didn't want to admit that he was starting to have feelings for Sakura. Wait a minute! Did Kakashi just admit he had feelings for his former student? Oh Kami! He couldn't say that, let alone think it. He was fourteen years her senior, and just imagine her reaction if he told her. He was scaring himself right now and he wanted to sleep peacefully and not being taunted with his thoughts over his precious former student.

'_Get a grip on yourself, Kakashi_,' he told himself and glanced down at the now sleeping medic in his arms.

He let his hands move down to Sakura's waist and sighed a bit and rest his head against the tree and allowed himself to sleep without scaring himself any further by pushing those thoughts aside.

Sakura, who was thought to be still asleep, pressed her face onto Kakashi's chest with a sigh. She knew how wrong this must've been for both her and Kakashi, but it almost felt so right to be with him. Sakura had to admit that she had grown feelings for him, but she wondered if he felt the same way. She hated these moments when she didn't know something about a person she'd known for such a long time; it made it feel like she didn't know the person at all.

Sakura pushed her worries aside for now to deal with later, or perhaps when she didn't feel so glum and depressed. Right now she just wanted to get some well earned rest. She felt Kakashi's hand make small circular motions on her waist, sending chills down her spine. The movements soon ceased and inwardly Sakura was a bit disappointed, but was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she felt a soft pair of lips press on the top of her head. Was he wearing a mask or not? Sakura's stomach was suddenly filling up with butterflies and her heart beat began to thump harder. Of course Kakashi wouldn't kiss Sakura without his mask, that's just plain insane, but it made Sakura think.

Slowly, Sakura's eyelids began to weigh down on her and her limbs had already left her, all she needed to do now was relax the rest of her muscles and she was off. Slowly closing her eyes, Sakura found herself in a totally comfortable position and she was out like a light.

Kakashi didn't know what to think anymore, his thoughts were starting to get the better of him and he wasn't really liking it. His thoughts were so strong at this point that they were playing around in his dreams. Instead of dreaming nothing but what his life went through or random roll plays from his little orange smut books, he found himself in awkward situations with his former female student.

He found himself staring at Sakura wearing nothing but her bikini and sitting on what appeared to be his bed. What was the world coming to? What was Kakashi coming to? Good grief, Kakashi was going nuts. He knew he was a little protective of Sakura, but he was always like that, and it never really bothered him until now.

After Sakura started moaning in pleasure and calling his name, Kakashi had enough and forced himself to wake up. He opened his eye and blinked a few times to wake up properly before he found himself staring up at the clear night sky.

'_What the hell?_' he thought as he tried to take a look at his surroundings.

He was lying flat on his back, with what appeared to be Sakura sleeping on top of him, '_what am I doing on the ground with Sakura?_' Kakashi was starting to get a little creeped out.

Thinking that he should probably get some sleep, he suddenly felt something move on him to somewhere he didn't quite want to think about at this point. Lifting his head, he saw Sakura's elbow shifting dangerously close to his crotch, '_not the crotch, not the crotch!_' he hoped Sakura was asleep while doing this, otherwise it would be a strange story to bring up in the morning.

Fortunately for him, Sakura didn't move any further with her elbow. If she had done so, Kakashi would've felt even more uncomfortable than he already was.

Sluggishly, Kakashi took in a deep breath and sighed, watching how the medic reacted to his movements by moaning a bit in her sleep, which he wasn't really bothered by. Slowly, the silver haired Jounin returned his gaze up to the dark sky and closed his eye to return to whatever torture his dreams had to offer him until dawn.

The sun had risen and the birds were starting their morning song calls to each other and the first light revealed its cloud of mist hovering over the campsite where Sakura, Kakashi, Kuro and Kitsune slept the night.

Sakura was interrupted by the loud cry of a crow, '_not now__…_' came a groggy moan of Inner Sakura as she threw an arm up to shoo away the damn bird.

Sakura suddenly felt a warm breath on her face, '_oh, don__'__t tell me__…_' Sakura, who still had her eyes closed to get back to sleep, had a thought of what and who was giving her those sensational warm breaths on her face.

She opened her emerald green eyes and was suddenly welcomed to the masked face of her former sensei. Her face lit up bright red like a tomato at the close proximity of their faces. They were nearly touching. She had to calm down right now, Kakashi probably slept lightly and would probably feel her tense up against him and most likely her reddened face would give off some heat.

The pink haired medic stared at Kakashi's sleeping face, she couldn't help but smile at such bliss. She gazed at the calmness of his face, and had the faint idea he was awake. Keeping her guard up, Sakura looked down at her rather intimate position and gulped.

'_Geez Kakashi, what were you doing in your sleep?_' Inner Sakura started annoyingly.

She abruptly felt a hand that was vaguely noticeable on her waist tense up and pull her closer to him. Now Sakura was completely flushed against him, but did Kakashi do that in his sleep, or was he awake this whole time?

Sakura finally decided to put a stop to this. Carefully, she managed to shift her weight a bit and moved her arm, which was wedged between her body and Kakashi's, but managed to squeeze it free. She stared at Kakashi's face before grinning lightly as a small blush crept across her cheeks.

"Umm…Kakashi?" Sakura whispered, staring at the man's only visible eye as it squinted at the sound of her voice and woke up.

The second Kakashi had opened his eye he jerked his head back because of the closeness between him and his former student. Sakura had an awkward smirk on her reddened face.

Kakashi felt so embarrassed when he noticed his position. Even though he may have found this somewhat comfortable, he didn't want to scare the medic, so he lifted his arm that was draped around her waist and sat up.

"Sorry about that…" he said whilst rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Now that Sakura was free from Kakashi's embrace, she sighed in relief to only get jumped on by Kitsune to greet her to the day. The brown fox rolled off her and landed where Kakashi was resting and demanded a cuddle.

"Good morning Kitsune," Sakura said happily and petted the brown fox playfully.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder to find himself blushing lightly for some strange reason. Good thing he was wearing a mask or Sakura would've definitely noticed it. He rubbed his face and sighed again and stood up, stretching out his arms and legs before his eye twitched at an uneasy sensation in his pants.

Quickly, Kakashi dove off into the bushes and away from Sakura so she couldn't see him. Sakura sat there with raised eyebrows after she was abruptly startled by the silver haired man when he dashed off into the bushes as if he had left something burning.

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**Author's notes:** I like fluff, and I managed to throw in some funny fluff right there with the intimate position with our favourite couple. See? I am getting somewhere with the M-Rating, and I'm pretty sure it'll get even better (lemon included :P). Yeah, I hope you liked this chapter, because I sure did; I'm probably going to throw in a scene where Tsunade gets the message from Pakkun, but I'm not so sure yet, you tell me and I'll see what I can put together. Now reviews please.


	26. Chapter 26: Final Destination

**Author's notes:** woop woop! I love you guys soo much, I can't believe we're this far already O.o Haha, but it's cool though; I get to make you guys happy with each chapter that I throw in. At the moment I've reached almost 200 pages in writing and almost 100 000 words OO yeah, that's a lot. This story is _by far_ the best and biggest I've written, so yeah. Umm yeah here's chapter twentysix, I hope you like it, enjoy . Oh and another thing, yes **animefan28** there will be lemon...probably lots so just wait and see :D

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX: FINAL DESTINATION

Kitsune stopped purring and grinned mischievously when she got an idea. She meowed jokingly and hopped over to the shrubs where Kakashi was last seen and called to the medic to get her attention.

With another raised eyebrow, Sakura crawled over on her knees to were her brown fox was and looked at whatever Kitsune wanted her to look at.

Immediately Sakura was welcomed with Kakashi standing with his back faced to her out about twenty metres taking a pee into the bushes. Her eyes widened and averted her gaze at an instant. Kitsune however was enjoying every minute of it and wanted to get closer, so sneakily she crept forward.

The pink haired medic felt her gut drop when she noticed her brown fox making her way to her former sensei, '_Kitsune, nooo!_' cried Inner Sakura with all irritation and rage.

Sakura lunged at Kitsune to grab her just in time before hearing a sigh from ahead. Her heart almost stopped at the sound of his voice the second she grabbed Kitsune and heaved out of sight behind a tree. Staring wide eyed at nothing, Sakura covered her brown fox's mouth to prevent her from saying anything to startle Kakashi.

Slowly, Sakura risked the chances of getting caught peeping and looked around the tree a smidge to find Kakashi ready to walk back. Quickly, Sakura leapt onto her feet and rushed to her bag to make it seem like she was doing something other than spying on Kakashi having a leak in the bushes somewhere.

The silver haired Jounin strolled his way back to the campsite while humming a little tune after washing his hands in a small pond. When he got there, he found Sakura looking pretty preoccupied with her backpack, packing things. He watched as she pulled out a pair of short stubbies with attached skirt and a small top.

He did somehow manage to notice Sakura was quite tense upon his return, making him think, "so after breakfast we'll head out; our last destination is only about an hour away, so be quick," he started casually, making Sakura tense up even more just by hearing his voice.

'_Man, I thought he spotted me__…__whew, lucky he didn__'__t_,' Sakura sighed softly to herself and closed her eyes before standing up and facing her former Jounin teacher.

"Okay," she said with a bright smile.

Kakashi merely smiled back as she walked off into the bushes, most likely to change into something a little more clean.

Sakura sighed heavily the moment she was out of sight and leaned against the trunk of a tree. Shaking random and unwanted thoughts from her mind, Sakura stripped from her shorts and into her chosen outfit. As she was taking her top off, she smelt the faint scent of what seemed like Kakashi.

She paused for a moment, absently taking in the scent of her top; he smelt like the Konoha forest with the hint of man deodorant. She had an ominous feeling at the pit of her stomach about where this whole mission could lead. The risks she was taking, the lines she was crossing and no doubt, her past relationships with other men.

Sasuke was basically her one and only crush, but he never respected her feelings and shunned her against everything she wanted to share with him. The thought of Sasuke brought tears to her eyes.

"Damn it," she cursed in a soft whisper as she put on the rest of her clothes and got ready.

Kakashi pondered deeply during her small absence and a small part of him was protesting against all demands, '_you know you want to__…_' came the small voice in his head.

'_Oh, bugger off_,' he inwardly spat back, knowing more than well who it was he was referring to.

His Inner self often came out at the most unwanted times to annoy the Copy Nin and make him feel like total crap when he definitely didn't want to. Kakashi sighed with a grunt and urged himself not to walk over to where he last saw his little female student, but being the pervert he was, it wouldn't be right to sneak a peak at Sakura while she was changing.

'_You have to admit she__'__s pretty_,' came his Inner self again with more determination to get Kakashi to listen to him.

'_So what if I admit she's pretty, that doesn't change anything_,' he replied back thoughtfully.

Inner Kakashi tapped his foot with a mild grin plastered on his masked face, '_come on man, you are the number one subject in the Konoha hot springs, and I bet she talks about you __'__all__'__ the time_,' his grin slowly grew as Kakashi's expressions just twisted around to just being plain creeped out.

Before Kakashi would beat the living daylights out of his Inner self, Sakura emerged from the bushes. He smelt the salty scent of tears in the air; she had been crying? Whatever Sakura was crying about, Kakashi wasn't just about to let it slide, then again, Sakura never really liked to talk about what upset her all the time, not to mention Kakashi's poor people skills, it would be much harder for him to even ask the question, 'do you want to talk?' or 'why are you crying?'.

He gazed at her slightly reddened eyes and sighed. Sakura rubbed the back of her head while holding her clothes in her free hand and smiled brightly at the silver haired Jounin.

Kakashi just grinned back, knowing she was faking that, but let it pass along with all the other fake smiles she threw at him during these past eleven days together. He shrugged it off and started packing.

Ten minutes later, Kakashi and Sakura were out on the road again with Kuro and Kitsune on their masters' shoulders, enjoying the morning as the sun rose up behind the small patches of clouds.

The dark clouds had gone and only few remained to hover aimlessly in the sky as the colour changed to a more brighter shade of blue. Sakura was a bit more relaxed and happier than she was yesterday, but Kakashi couldn't blame her; after all, Sakura had killed Sasuke by accident in almost the same way she killed Naruto.

Poor Kunoichi.

All was lifted off his shoulders when he caught the glimpse of the village up ahead. Now Kakashi would be able to relax the last few days. Now his plans would come into action, and now he would be able to get his reward for winning the bet with Sakura. He pondered about what sort of 'punishment' would be suitable for his former student and grinned mischievously.

Sakura felt happier when she saw the village gates growing as she neared it and sighed merrily and patted the brown fox on her shoulder.

"Finally, a proper shower awaits us," Sakura exclaimed as she skipped ahead of Kakashi with the determination to get to the village as fast as she could without rushing her still sore body.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and soon caught up with the medic with a wide grin on his masked orifice. Within seconds, the two Jounins and the two foxes were ambling their way through the village markets and stores. Sakura just stared in awe at all the things she looked at. From jewellery to clothing, Sakura walked past every shop with her mouth hanging open; Kakashi merely chuckled as he too took a glance at what was to buy.

The Hidden Waterfall Village was busy, just like back at Konoha, but the variety in purchasable items were endless, and some even at a decent price to beat. All Sakura could think of right now was spend, spend, spend, but she had already made a mental note to take a shower first and relax her muscles with a nice nap, _then _browse for anything to her liking.

"Here we are," Kakashi stopped in his path and looked up at a large sign.

Sakura looked up at the signpost saying, 'Hidden Waterfall Motel,' and immediately thought of her many ways of relaxing in a nice looking place like this. Kakashi opened the front door for Sakura, who smiled at him sweetly with a modest "thank you" and walked inside.

In the building was a small reception area in a massive lobby room where the ceiling practically reached up to the heavens, making Sakura nearly gasp. To Kakashi it seemed like nothing to him; he just shrugged and walked on, making sure Sakura would follow him.

Behind the counter of the room sat an old man, reading the daily paper and drinking what seemed to be a hot mug of coffee. Kakashi slowly made his way as casual as he usually was with his hands in his pockets, taking the scenery of the place as he went. Sakura felt something was going to stall her relaxation with this rather silent moment.

"Hatake?" came a rather chirpy voice from the counter.

Kakashi, who was staring at most of the furniture along his path, replied with a lazy and casual "huh?" and switched his gaze to the old man.

The old man smiled brightly as he snatched his walking stick that was leaning on the wall next to him and staggered his way toward the silver haired man and the medic, "Hatake Kakashi, it's a long time since we last saw each other, hasn't it," he said as he slowly made his way to Kakashi with a constant smile.

Kakashi was a bit puzzled at the way he was being addressed and finally caught on to who the old man was, "Kongou-sempai, it sure has, about seventeen years to be exact," he replied with a soft smile on his face as he hugged the short man before him.

Sakura sighed; she knew something like this was going to happen, no doubt. She stared as Kakashi and the elderly as they welcomed each other with a small hug.

"Since we last met, I thought you were dead," started the old man as if he was about to tell stories about the 'good old days', surprising Kakashi somewhat at his comment, "but here you are in my motel, looking better than ever,"

Kakashi chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, "well Konoha took good care of me in these many, _many _years I've lived," he exaggerated the 'many' word as he spoke, as if trying to prove a point.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and looking around the room. The pillars towered into the ceiling and the place looked just as fancy as some rich king's mansion. The ferns and other plants potted by the entrance and little tables surrounded by chairs decorated the room to make it a bit more used, rather than an empty hall.

Before Kongou could ramble on about how he missed not seeing Kakashi over those many years, he leaned to the side onto one leg and managed to catch the glimpse of the pink haired medic standing behind Kakashi, bored as ever.

"So who is this pretty young lady?" he asked enthusiastically as he waded past the tall Jounin and approached the medic behind him.

Sakura finally matched her gaze with the old man in front of her and smiled sweetly at him, "that's Haruno Sakura, she's a well-known medic in Konoha and one of the best," Kakashi answered the question for Sakura's sake. Kongou only grinned evilly as he nudged Kakashi's sides while raising his eyebrows at him, "nice girl you have you, so when are you expecting your first child? Or have you already had one?" Kongou burst into laughter, making Sakura blush deeply and Kakashi lift an eyebrow.

He shook his head, "no, no, she's my student, well…former student; we're here on a mission," correcting Kongou's embarrassing impressions, he immediately burst into energy and looked around like every other ninja around him.

"Oh, oh, is it on another one of your assassination missions where you have to take out a deadly S-Rank ninja outcast from some unknown village?" Kongou's question sounded more of a statement than a question as he fisted his hands and was ready to hit something with the rush of energy he had.

Kakashi rolled his lone visible eye and sighed, "no, Sakura-chan and I are to go on a mission to get over the loss of a close teammate who passed away not too long ago," he corrected, again as he frowned a bit when he noticed the pink haired medic's physical reaction, though she didn't want to show that, the frown only did, making her slouch a bit in misery.

Kongou instantly stopped threatening the air with his aged fists and frowned, "well I'm very sorry to hear that, I sure hope you two are making the best out of this mission," he replied solemnly with a frown, before a twinkle in his eye signalled he wanted to joke about his last avowal.

Again, Kakashi rolled his eyes, "the mission is for two weeks, and we are now in our eleventh, and so far so good," his eye crinkled up to a smile, even though he knew not all of what he said was true.

The old man smiled genuinely as he patted the tall Jounin on his shoulder and let out a huff, "well that's great to hear," he smiled brightly at the two travelling Jounins.

Kakashi smiled before snapping out of his little reverie and remembering what they actually came here for, "oh yeah, Kongou-sempai, we need a place to stay for about two nights," he said with a raised hand as a gesture of realisation.

Kongou nodded gladly as he waved his arms up with a bright grin on his wrinkled face, "well that's fine with me, I'll just get you guys a key and you'll be off enjoying this wonderful weather," he exclaimed in bliss. He turned on his heel and trotted his way back behind the counter and rummaged about in the cabinets in search for a key for a decent room.

Kakashi and Sakura merely exchanged glances as they watched the old man hop up on his feet with a key in hand, "here we are," he announced casually and tossed it to Kakashi, "thank you Kongou-sempai, I'll be sure to pay you after our visit," he replied with a small smile on his hidden face.

"No need for that kid, the stay is on me," Kongou raised a hand with his eyes closed, "anything for an old friend,"

Sakura grinned when the aged man referred to Kakashi as 'kid' and tried her best to hold back the giggle in her throat. Kakashi's smile only grew wider and nodded again with a 'thank you' attached and made his way past the small counter.

"And I do hope you'll enjoy tomorrow night's festival in the town square," Kongou reminded as he leaned around the doorway to see the silver haired Jounin and his former student.

Kakashi's glance turned to Sakura without moving his head from Kongou's direction and watched her reaction, "yeah, I'm sure it will be a nice thing to get our minds off our old team," he deliberately said that to get Sakura out of her little fantasies and was pushed along up the stairs until Kongou was out of their sight and earshot.

"Festival?" Sakura began thoughtfully as she walked alongside Kakashi up the stairs.

Kakashi hummed a bit under his chuckle, but said nothing, only agitating the medic more as her impatience grew vividly.

With a huff, Sakura raised an eyebrow, trying to get an answer out of the Copy Nin but Kakashi remained his calm and collected self as they climbed another flight of stairs, until they reached their designated room.

Kakashi inserted the key into the lock, and began unlocking it, "sweet, sweet dreams just beyond this door and I can fina-" Sakura was stopped mid-sentenced when she took in the view of the room.

The room was amazing. It was almost everything Sakura had ever dreamed of to have in her own apartment. She felt Kitsune, who had been sitting on her shoulder this whole time, jump off and race into the room with Kuro right behind her.

Sakura gazed at everything from left to right: kitchen, living area with a tiny couch that could only just fit two people on it, a nice and large queen size bed and bathroom on the far end of the room. She was satisfied at this point when she realised everything was perfect, just until…

Her beam dropped to a shocked frown, "oh damn!" she cursed, facing the silver haired Jounin standing right next to her and said, "there's only one bed!" Sakura was most definitely worried. Kakashi only shrugged, yet he was kind of worried himself at how Sakura would sleep at night being in the same bed with him.

"Well, I'll have a talk to Kongou-sama about whether or not we can have a room with two beds instead," Kakashi suggested to only get a sudden, "yes, please do that!" from Sakura, who had an immediate grip on the other Jounin's arm with a hint of determination twinkling in her green eyes.

Kakashi chuckled at her reaction and walked in to put his bag down. The pink haired medic surveyed momentarily before shaking her head a bit and following what he was doing. She set her bag gently on the ground as if there was something breakable in there, which in fact there was, just only realised now over those so many days on the mission.

"Be right back," Kakashi stated and he was out the door before Sakura could say anything.

She sighed when he shut the door and she let herself fall onto the bed with a huff and stared aimlessly at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and listened to her own heartbeat, thumping steadily as she breathed.

A moment passed and Kuro and Kitsune were playfully running about in the small kitchen, occasionally hitting one another in a harmless way to get attention. Sakura sighed again as she let the comfort of the couch sink into her skin. Slowly all her stresses and kinks in almost all muscles and bones on her body were released and Sakura could relax properly now.

Before long, Kakashi returned in the same style he left earlier. Sakura lifted her head at the Jounin and hoped there was an answer she was waiting for, "and?" she asked, frowning a bit as she thought about the answer.

Kakashi shook his head with his only visible eye closed, "Kongou-sama said that this was the only room available at the moment. But he did say that this room had the best view of the village compared to the others," he slouched as he shuffled his way to the bed and stared at the medic with his arms crossed.

"So what do you suppose we do?" Sakura wondered, raising an eyebrow.

The question about the available rooms was stuck out, so that only left them the option of 'who sleeps where tonight'. Kakashi shrugged, before answering, "I guess I'll just take the couch and you can have the bed," Sakura furrowed her eyebrows at the tiny couch behind the man.

"There is no way you can sleep on a couch that small; I'll sleep in it, I'm _much _smaller than you," Sakura spat back and sat up, but the other Jounin shook his head in protest, "but you won't sleep properly on that thing, you'll wake up cranky and sore in the morning," he said while pointing at said couch behind him.

Sakura tensed a bit when he put _her _and _cranky _in the same phrase but let that one slide; there were other matters to sort out at the moment, "here's an idea," Sakura said with a sigh and closed her eyes, while rubbing her temples frustratingly.

"How about we share the bed," she suggested with a faint blush on her cheeks. Kakashi raised an eyebrow in his stance, "the bed is big enough and it'll be much easier than fighting over a couch that can most likely break someone's back if they decided to sleep on it,"

"True,"

"So it's settled then," Sakura stomped her feet on the ground and stood up triumphantly.

She made her way to her backpack and started searching for something. Kakashi cocked his head to the side and tried to figure out what she was looking for, before she stood up with a grin on her face and what looked to be a photo frame.

Her smile was constantly set upon the photo within the frame and sat down on the bed and stared at the image with almost the full intention of crying over it. By the look on the medic's face, Kakashi knew what specific photo that was and sat down next to her.

Sakura shook her head and willed herself not to cry and set the photo frame on the bedside table and stared with a soft and blissful sigh escaping her lips. Kakashi leaned forward a bit to see her expression, but found it not sad or full of regret, but happy in a slightly tired appearance.

She shook her head lightly before gazing at the Jounin sitting next to her with a raised eyebrow, "okay, I get the left side," she announced in a flash.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and grunted in reply and rolled over on the bed until he was on his side of the bed. He slouched on the bed, back facing Sakura as the silence finally ensued. The only thing disturbing pure silence was the murmur sound of the busy streets outside and the movements Kuro and Kitsune made as they were play fighting.

The Copy Nin stopped fiddling with the stuff in his bag when an idea struck. Noting that down, he would save the surprise for later, right now he would relish this peaceful moment in bliss as he settled down on the bed and flipped open his beloved Icha Icha. Sakura peered over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow, before she too spotted the idea and crawled her way to Kakashi's side.

"Kakashi," she started in a slight monotone voice.

"Hm?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, though not shifting his gaze from his book.

"What's this about a 'festival' tomorrow night?"

Kakashi sighed and finally made eye contact with the bubblegum-haired medic next to him and sighed, "I thought you'd ask," he lowered his book and let it rest on his chest while he waited for Sakura to say something, but instead he spoke, "every year there is a festival called 'The Festival Under The Waterfall,' and it celebrates the birth of the village,"

Sakura's worries flew out the window at the way he produced the subject and how it sounded so cool, "there will be feasts, parties, dances and a few fun competitions going around for the entire evening," the older Jounin added while lifting the light blue covered book to read.

The pink haired medic scowled at him momentarily and with one finger, she dipped the book from the man's gaze so he'd look at her, "you aren't planning anything…are you?" she narrowed her glare at him and waited for the response.

"Why what would give you the slightest idea that I would be planning anything, my little cherry blossom?" Kakashi asked ever so innocently, although he didn't have to refer to his former student as 'my little cherry blossom' maybe that might've been a bit too much.

"Well…" Sakura started, interrupting Kakashi's fantasies, "you seemed rather quiet about it and wouldn't really answer the question when I asked _before _we got here,"

Kakashi chuckled, "relax Sakura-chan, it's just a formal and enjoyable event, and I'm pretty sure we'll have a wonderful time there, trust me," his eyes crinkled up to a smile once more.

Sakura hadn't even thought about whether or not they were attending, but figured she would love it, just like Kakashi said so. She calmed herself a bit and sat back.

"Now, that doesn't mean you get to spend _all _day getting ready for the upcoming fiesta…" the Copy Nin trailed off, hoping Sakura would get the point.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion, not really getting where he was going with this at all. Kakashi sighed and lowered his book again and tilted his head toward the medic, "you remember that I won the bet, like you said after admitting I was hot," at that, it resulted in Sakura's face burning up to a lovely shade of crimson.

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**Author's notes:** Yeah, I had to add an old man in this one, and haha, having him think that Kakashi and Sakura had kids was just a classic, but that's only my opinion. This story is getting juicy, and I love it so far. And if you love it too, send me a review ;D. So anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, in which I agree; I liked it too. I will update as soon as possible. And just a reminder, thank you all for staying with me so far and for so long, I love you for it, and the reviews have all been positive (that's 64 reviews and counting XD). See ya later


	27. Chapter 27: Sweet, Sweet Rewards

**Author's notes:** well here we have it, a few answers you guys have probably been asking for a while, or basically since the chapter twentysix, but that's beside the point. To answer a question for you, the lemon and fluff bits don't come til later, but I won't tell where exactly because I'd be bullying you guys and spoil it for anyone who wants to find out for themselves, but it _will_ come, don't worry. So...chapter twenty seven...the title says it all...enjoy XD

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CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN: SWEET, SWEET REWARDS

What ever gave Kakashi the thought that she said he was hot?

'_You know it__'__s true though_,' came in Inner Sakura with a cheeky smirk on her face.

'_Piss off, you_,' Sakura fought back, pushing those thoughts aside for now.

"I didn't say-…huh? Oh yeah, that," the medic rolled her eyes as she tried hard to rub the deep blush from her face, only making Kakashi chuckle as he turned a page to his book and read on.

He glanced at the medic again and smirked, "I did say that I will announce your punishment when we reached the next village didn't I?" again, his smirk widened and watched Sakura's intent gaze drop.

She pouted, "so what is it going to be?" she asked, frowning a bit at what the costs of asking would be.

Kakashi hummed a non-existent tune aloud and said, "for all of tomorrow, you are going to be my little maid, or 'nurse lady' as I'd like to call it," his grin only widened when he watched Sakura's frown twist to a disgusted glare with eyes wide.

"You have _got _to be kidding me," she spat, staring at the man next to her with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi just shook his head, "I'm being serious here now," Sakura's jaw hung agape as she groaned loudly in irritation, "aww man," she clutched at her hair and wanted to hit herself hard for not expecting something like this sooner.

She sighed in defeat, knowing she couldn't get around an argument with Kakashi without losing, and in this argument, she definitely lost, "cheer up Sakura-chan, it will only be for tomorrow," he smiled sweetly at the bubble-gum haired medic before returning his attention to his book.

Sakura sighed again; she was looking forward to tomorrow, but now that there was a punishment before the festival, she didn't even want the day to come anymore. Instead of fussing over it, Sakura glanced up at the clock that was hung up in the tiny kitchen and stood up, "we'd better get something to eat before it gets dark," she proved the point when her stomach growled loudly and the two foxes were snapped out of their fun when they too were just as hungry as she was.

Kakashi smirked at the loud sounds echoing in the room before his stomach growled louder than all the rest. A faint blush crossed his masked cheeks from the embarrassing noise and looked down at his tummy, "yeah, I think you have a point there," and without any decent preparations, the silver haired Jounin and the pink haired medic fed the two foxes and left the apartment.

Once out of the building, Kakashi instantly caught a good smell with his nose and pointed in the direction, "this way," he motioned his head toward the scent and Sakura followed him.

The smell got stronger after a while and soon the two Jounins were standing in front of a fancy-looking side shop, selling…ramen? Sakura and Kakashi couldn't understand it. It smelt so good, just until they knew what it was.

The scent of the tasty ramen in the store before them was still very strong and it made Sakura's mouth water, "I didn't always like ramen all that much, but the smell is so unbearable," she sighed as she slouched in calmness as her feet shuffled closer to the ramen stand.

"So did I, but maybe this ramen is different," Kakashi said with a small grin and entered the booth.

Sakura followed quickly and the two took a seat on the vacant wooden stools at the bench. Once having ordered their ramen, Kakashi noticed how Sakura wasn't staring at him to take his mask off; he raised an eyebrow at that and shrugged. Maybe Sakura got over the fact at how much she wanted to see his face. After all, the medic had seen it once before, thanks to a certain black fox of his.

The older Jounin thread his fingers through his thick silver mane. A shower would've been good before going out to dinner, and perhaps changing into something a little more presentable wouldn't hurt either.

As soon as their ramen was set in front of them, Sakura had no objections to eating right now; the odour had lingered long enough for the medic to want to dive into three bowls, "itadakimasu," she declared quickly and dug into the bowl with her chopsticks.

Kakashi nodded curtly in reply and stared at his food momentarily. Slowly sucking up the noodles, Sakura cleared her throat and wiped the juices from her mouth, "wow, that's better than Ichiraku's," she just had to mention that place. Kakashi chuckled and split his chopsticks to eat.

The pink haired medic soon noticed how the Copy Nin wanted to eat and quickly turned shoulder so that she couldn't see him. Suddenly respecting Kakashi's personal space, Sakura resumed her ramen in peace, while the silver haired Jounin on her right gave her a raised eyebrow, but soon smiled sweetly, although she couldn't see it. Kakashi then freely removed his mask and got down into his food.

He was done quickly enough to allow Sakura to look at him once his mask was back in place, "that was some good ramen," Kakashi commented to no one in particular and placed his chopsticks into the bowl and leaned back a bit to let the food settle.

"Why thank you," came the sound of a man across from him, "we have some of the tastiest kinds of ramen in the ninja world,"

Sakura smiled softly at the thought, '_Naruto would__'__ve loved to come here for ramen_,' she said inwardly, though as calmly as she could as if someone would hear her. With smiles and filled stomachs, Kakashi payed the man and the two headed back to the motel with their name on it.

The walk back was silent. The sun had already set and the twilight was already displayed, making the village seem more like back home in Konoha. Sakura and Kakashi walked side-by-side around the corner. Sakura hadn't really payed much attention these past few years they had the time to walk together anywhere, but she noticed that they were so close, as if Kakashi's hand would jump out his pocket and grab hers at the blink of an eye.

It was physically possible for someone as Kakashi's standards to do that, but Sakura knew he wouldn't, and obviously wasn't thinking about it. She often peeked a glance at her male companion and pondered deeply.

Not only was she thinking of him in _that _way, but she was also wondering what sort of things Kakashi would get her to do for him tomorrow; she just hoped for the best that her chores wouldn't be anything that would affect them both in any way possible.

Before she knew it, Sakura was standing in front of the apartment door with Kakashi unlocking the door to let themselves in. Once inside, she was taken aback (literally) by the sudden surprise from a brown fox after leaping into her arms.

Turns out that Kitsune and Kuro and both missed their masters very much, and would no doubt want to go after them, but they were told to stay put until they got back and did as they were told. Before long, Kakashi was lying flat on his back on the bed with Kuro on his stomach, purring like mad and getting cuddles from his Jounin master.

Sakura giggled softly at that and made her way to her side of the bed and dipped her arms into her backpack in search of clean clothes when all she felt was the bed move behind her and the sound of a door slamming. She was surprised to find Kakashi had left the room so quickly; he managed to ninja his way out…again. Sakura raised an eyebrow, '_another toilet break?_' she thought inwardly, to only hear the sound of water running beyond the door.

'_Guess not__…_' she mentally corrected, sighing deeply as she fell back onto her back to feel the patch of warmth where her former sensei lay before he darted off into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes had passed and Sakura huffed in irritation as she stood before the door of the bathroom, "hurry up Kakashi, I need to shower too you know," this was the third time she had to shout at him. She only heard a mumbled "be right out," as his reply and rolled her eyes.

She was snapped out of her blank gaze of the plain white door when the handle of said door turned. She looked down, and as soon as the door opened, she looked back up, watching the steam waft into the room.

The pink haired Kunoichi gulped nervously. She was at the height of Kakashi's shoulders, and she was staring right at the man's bare chest, still wet and dripping water. She was only inches away from it and her breath hitched at the sight of his toned muscles.

She shook her head to only hear a chuckle from the perverted Copy Nin standing oh so close to her without really realising it himself, "all yours, roomy," he said cheekily.

It was obvious that Kakashi had his mask on. Sakura smiled awkwardly at the man and moved in search for an entry point to the bathroom, to only find Kakashi moving in the same direction, making the awkward situation much worse when they moved at simultaneous steps in front of each other until Kakashi grabbed Sakura's shoulders and moved her aside so that he could walk past her.

"Much better," he mused as he sat down on the bed and reaching into his bag for his undershirt.

Sakura blushed when she could finally take the sight of a nearly completely nude former sensei wearing nothing but a mask and a fluffy beige towel wrapped loosely and low on his hips.

Pushing those little fantasies to the back of her head for now, she entered the bathroom and locked the door as soon as it was closed. With a deep and longing sigh, Sakura stripped from her clothes and got into the shower before her bare self would soon find the cold entering from the window.

Allowing the temperature to rise, Sakura sighed again under the warm water as it cascaded down her back. She washed her hair and moaned in bliss at the feeling of clean hair and scrubbed deep in her scalp to massage all her stress away.

Once she was scrubbed down and smelling like a field of roses and cherry blossoms, Sakura stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. Slowly she rubbed her arms, absorbing the water with her towel and got into her pyjamas, which consisted of a pair of violet boxer shorts and a tank top with a pink flower on it. Even though it looked childish to perhaps anyone when they see her in that sleeping wear, Sakura liked it; it revealed not too much and not too little of her body.

Wringing out her hair with her now damp towel, Sakura exited the bathroom to find Kakashi sitting happily on the bed reading his precious reading material he referred to once as being educational. As expected of him. Sakura rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed, glancing at the photo frame with her team on it. Everyone looked so different on that picture and Sakura was the only one smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Naruto and Sasuke just looked like themselves; the blonde glaring at the raven Uchiha heir with his arms crossed and gritted teeth, whereas Sasuke just looked like his normal and depressed self. Kakashi was smiling in that photo, but looked really forced to the position of his eyebrow, wishing he could get another team assigned to him instead of these brats. But of course they were no longer brats when they grew up; Sasuke leaving, Naruto maturing everyday and Sakura getting stronger.

The bubble-gum haired medic sighed softly and pulled out her hair brush and started to straighten her pink locks and brushed out all the knots and messiness.

Kakashi felt the bed dip when Sakura shifted under the covers and settled against the wall of the bed behind her and cuddled Kitsune who was rolling around on her back and demanding more cuddles.

The Copy Nin flipped a page to his book, but mentally plotted down what sort of things he could get Sakura to do for him. This was obviously going to be harder than he thought. Sure the bet sounded fun at first, but when it came down to deciding what to do, Kakashi felt a little useless.

He closed his book, having had enough reading for the time being and placed it on the bedside table beside him and lay down on the pillow with a huff. Sakura was already under the covers with her back turned to him and looked like she was asleep, but the constant movement of her arm gave it away. She was perceptibly still petting Kitsune and her purring was vibrating through the whole bed.

But soon Sakura patted the brown fox on the head and nestled under the covers and sighed as she turned the light off, "good night Kakashi," she mumbled softly and closed her eyes.

"Night Sakura-chan," Kakashi replied in a muffled murmur and allowed sleep to take over.

Sakura felt the warmth of her fox companion keep her company, but also felt the warmth of the man sleeping next to her. She wasn't worried by the fact that Kakashi was only inches away from her under the same blanket. She ignored those thoughts and dreamed in peace.

No longer was she dreaming of Naruto's pain and his death, but in fact she was dreaming of the good times between the two. At first, Sakura thought of Naruto as irritating and annoying, but as they grew up, they respected each other and became close friends. She knew Naruto was determined to become Hokage more than anyone she ever knew in her life, and she felt so guilty when she flushed that chance down the tube.

He was so close too.

The laughs. The tears. The joy. All those were something Sakura and Naruto shared as good friends, and not only that, Naruto understood Sakura in a way to know when something was wrong just by looking at her. He was always there to help her, but now…Naruto was still there, in her heart and memories, telling her that everything will be alright.

'_I wish you were here Naruto__…_'

Sakura was in no way wanting to wake up now; she was having such a wonderful dream, but the feeling of something almost preventing her from breathing made her wake up.

She opened an eye a crack to see nothing but blackness. Freaking out a bit at the sudden darkness, Sakura lifted her head to find that she had in fact had her face buried into Kakashi's undershirt while lying on top of him, again. She blushed furiously at the sight of her former sensei practically sprawled on the bed with her on him.

'_Not again__…_' she said inwardly and sighed.

Kakashi looked as though someone had just tossed him onto the bed while he was unconscious at some point. One arm was hanging off the bed and the other…where was the other? Taking in the sight of their rather intimate position, Sakura noticed his 'missing' arm was rested on the small of her back, and very close to her butt.

Not quite liking the idea that she strangely found this comfortable to lie on her former sensei like now, Sakura had to take a few steps back and had to look again, '_Kakashi__'__s mask__…_' Sakura thought up; her Inner self already wide awake and ready to start the day.

'_You know you want to girl, just look at him, now__'__s your chance_,' she spoke triumphantly as she gave Sakura a nudge to go for it.

Sakura bit her lower lip, '_but he trusts me, I can__'__t just break that trust by doing that_,' she protested against her Inner self, hoping she wouldn't lose the argument.

Inner Sakura rolled her eyes with a loud grunt, '_still, I__'__m pretty sure hottie-Kakashi would understand above all other laws, rules and things alike that you would have the full intension in seeing his face; just look at yourself for example__…_' she trailed off, grinning evilly at her Outer in hopes of sending the message the right way.

Sakura was ready to growl meekly at her mental conscious but was distracted when the Copy Nin had finally awoken. With a loud yawn pulling her back into the real world, Sakura was caught off guard when Kakashi had purposely rolled over until he was hanging over the medic.

He grinned.

Sakura held her breath at the sudden surprise of a wide awake Kakashi hovering over her and being pinned down onto the bed, "morning Nurse Lady," said the Copy Nin lamely with a grin still constant on his masked face.

The pink haired medic blushed deeply at the sudden closeness of the older Jounin and in any way possible Sakura was trying to get away from him and almost forced herself to hide.

"Where's my pancakes?" Kakashi almost demanded cheekily.

Sakura's jaw hung open and rolled her eyes, "good morning to you too then, _sensei_," she replied a bit coldly and managed to shove her way out from under Kakashi and onto her feet.

Sakura really wanted to hit the man hard for ordering her around like that, but she had no choice; she lost the bet and this was her punishment and his reward. Sakura didn't mind being enslaved for a day, but being called 'Nurse Lady' was overdoing it a little.

Having no other alternative to the situation, Sakura did as she was told and ambled into the kitchen, where she stood clueless in front of the stove.

"Come on," Sakura turned on her heel to face the Jounin, "we need the ingredients if you want pancakes,"

With a pleased grin on his masked face, Kakashi followed her out the door, making sure the door was locked behind him and Kuro and Kitsune were with them. Kuro, being the lazy one for some reason, jumped up on Kakashi's shoulder and sat on his head, his body hidden in between the mop of wild silver hair and started purring madly.

Kitsune stayed on the medic's shoulder, trying not to be a burden to her master until she was allowed to do as she pleased.

Sakura and Kakashi strolled past buildings, hearing the village gossip as they walked and watched little children race past them in a hurry for something. With a grumbling and empty stomach, Sakura found a small food store.

Inside Sakura wanted to buy whatever she felt like eating, but she didn't want to waste too much money; she was trying to save up on a dress she saw when they entered the village, but wanted to surprise Kakashi with it once she was given permission to do so.

The pink haired medic came across instant pancake mix, where most of the ingredients were already mixed for you and all you had to do was toss in an egg with water and milk. Satisfied that Kakashi didn't mind what kind of pancakes he wanted, Sakura grabbed the small box and tossed it in the small basket she was carrying. Quickly, Sakura managed to hunt down a half dozen eggs and a bottle of milk, but she also had to get maple syrup; can't forget that. The medic grabbed a bottle of orange juice just in case.

Once everything was purchased, Sakura and Kakashi hurried back to the motel and back into their apartment. There wasn't much point for Kakashi to come with Sakura, all he did was read his book and get annoyed with the black fox making cosy on his head.

As soon as they were in their apartment, Sakura disappeared into the kitchen and began her messy work of art on the countertops. Everything was put into one bowl and following the method on the packet, Sakura added the eggs, milk and water and began mixing everything together until it was ready.

Kakashi sat at the kitchen table with his baby blue book in hand, reading away as if there was nothing else in the world to do but wait for his breakfast.

Sakura heated the stove after finding a frying pan to cook the batter and made a few batches of pancakes. The medic set them all on one plate and continued making pancakes until there was no more batter left.

"Here we are," Sakura announced proudly as she set the breakfast on the table.

Kakashi was startled a bit when Sakura sat down opposite him and stared pleasingly at him with a warming smile. Of course, Kakashi was rather hungry when he walked around in the store and just the smell of what Sakura was whipping up for him made him only hungrier.

It smelt _so _good.

'_Wow, who knew Sakura could cook, this smells amazing_,' Kakashi stared at Sakura with a raised eyebrow before she giggled at him, "well don't just sit there, you wanted it, dig in," she raised, motioning her hands at him to eat the food.

Without any objections to the orders, Kakashi happily grabbed a pancake and slopped it onto his place and snatched the bottle of maple syrup, drowning his pancake in the syrup. The pink haired medic only giggled, '_maybe being Kakashi__'__s Nurse Lady wouldn__'__t be so bad after all_,' she thought, smiling softly.

Sakura noticed how Kakashi wasn't eating yet and suddenly realised why, "I'll just go and clean the mess on the counter," Sakura raised from the table and moved over to the countertops so that Kakashi could eat in peace.

The silver haired Jounin had to chuckle at that; she hadn't made much of a mess when cooking and she had cleaned most of it all up. He guessed Sakura just wanted to get out of his face (literally) and let him eat without prying at his unmasked face, which she would've wanted but didn't want him to make her pay by doing the worst jobs possible.

He got an idea. A mean idea, but for Kakashi it would be fun no doubt. He quickly plucked a single hair from his silver mop and placed it on his pancake with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Uhh, Sakura-chan," he came calmly and glared at Sakura, who turned around at an instant, "there seems to be a hair in my pancake,"

A little worried, Sakura stumbled to Kakashi's side to inspect the hair issue. Taking a close look at Kakashi's food, the medic took the hair and scowled at it once her back was straightened, "Kakashi, this is _your _hair," she protested in a little irritation.

Kakashi merely shook his head, "how can it, I don't lose hair," of course it was a lie, everyone loses hair, but Sakura just placed her hands on her hips and gave him the nurse's look, "you are the only one who has grey hair, period; you're just trying to make me feel bad aren't you?" she gave him a serious glare and Kakashi just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You know, it could be your hair," he suggested with a wink.

Sakura's jaw nearly hit the floor after saying something like that, "you could be getting old," he added in a mock tone.

"What!?" Sakura fumed at the older Jounin.

"I have pink hair you baka, and I'm only nineteen years old, you're the old one out of us two," she retorted firmly, ready to make Kakashi shed some hair for his day. If Kakashi was going to be like this, screw being his Nurse Lady; it would be time to do things under Sakura's rules.

Kakashi chuckled at her annoyance and patted her shoulder, "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I know you're not old and I'm not colour-blind either; I was just being annoying," he said apologetically. Sakura rolled her eyes and absentmindedly thread her hand through the man's silver mane.

"I kind of figured that," she stated gently before deciding to play a little trick on him for revenge.

Strangely enough, Kakashi enjoyed the feeling of someone massaging his scalp, before she felt her stop in the middle of whatever she was doing. Sakura's eyes widened as she removed her hand from his head roughly and pulled a sour face, "holy crap Kakashi, you're losing hair," she said in a way that would freak herself out and Kakashi himself.

"What?!" Kakashi grabbed at his hair as if it were to fall out before hearing the pink haired medic bellow in laughter.

He glanced at the medic who was pointing a finger at him, "haha, I was only kidding; you aren't losing your hair don't worry," she reassured him as gently as she could without bursting into more hilarity.

Kakashi scowled at her and looked down at his food, "okay enough games, we have a busy day ahead of us if we want to go to the festival tonight," he was being serious now. Sakura caught her breath after containing her mirth and began to wash up.

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**Author's notes:** End of chapter. I personally loved the bit where Sakura wakes up on Kakashi, and then he says, "where's my pancakes" lols. Not only that, but I loved the ramen bit, and the awkward moment after Kakashi took a shower and standing real close to Sakura all wet and drippy (drools). What do you guys think? Good? Bad? You decide, send me a review of what you think, and as a reward, I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can Laters.


	28. Chapter 28: The Festival

**Author's notes:** Sorry it took me so long to get the next chapter uploaded; I was busy trying to get ahead a little so that I would'nt rush myself if you were waiting for me to finish the chapter. So yes, we are definately reaching the climax of the story, which also means that we are reaching closer to the end, also meaning I will be reaching the most irritating part of the story to write (I think you may already have an idea in what I mean). Not only that, but I've also been a little busy with my other commitments, so that may also explain my short absence. But enough ranting, I present to you, the next chapter; the title says it all, so enjoy .

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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: THE FESTIVAL

After Sakura and Kakashi had breakfast and remembered to feed Kuro and Kitsune after waking up, the two set about in the village looking for something to do. As they were walking down the main street of the town, looking for a nice cheap place to have lunch, a subject popped up in Sakura's mind.

"Kakashi," she started plainly, not making eye contact with him, but the road ahead, "how do you know Kongou?" finally came the question.

Kakashi sighed, "well, when I was in ANBU, I was sent here to assassinate a missing-nin and met Kongou-sama for the first time when I needed a place to stay," he explained, turning a page to his beloved Icha Icha Fantasies before continuing, "because I was injured at the time, Kongou was constantly checking up on me to make sure I was okay and not collapsed somewhere on the floor. We ended up having a few conversations and chatting, which was something I wasn't really supposed to do as an ANBU, but it couldn't be helped. Soon we became sort-of friends, but after I returned to Konoha, we kind of lost touch,"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "he's weird," came the blatant statement, making the Copy Nin arch a brow at her, "yeah, he's a little strange, but he's generous; I mean, look at what he did for us, he let us stay at his expensive motel for free," he replied simply.

"You mean, look at what he did for _you_; if you were someone else other than Kakashi, we'd have to pay for it,"

"True…" the Jounin shrugged it off and read on.

Throughout most of the morning, Sakura was on and off doing things for Kakashi and she was starting to hate him for it. She had to get him something he preferred to eat, which was only available on the other side of the village, and the village was about half the size of Konoha, but still it was big and maze-like, not to mention that Sakura had to find the right shop that sold them. Not only that, but Sakura had to give Kuro and bubble bath to keep him clean. It was fun a first until Kuro wanted to play with Kitsune and Sakura, and ended up getting the medic just as soaked as he was.

But overall, Sakura was exhausted by the day's progress and wished it would end quickly so she could beat the living hell out of her former sensei later on the next day.

"Okay," Kakashi stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at the town clock, "we have about two hours until the big event, so in the mean time, you can prepare yourself for tonight,"

That brought a relieving smile on the pink haired medic's face, "thank you…" she sighed and was about to take off to her destination when Kakashi had stopped her. Looking a little puzzled at the Jounin's sudden actions towards her, she gave him a strange look. Kakashi stared a moment more, "I expect you to look beautiful," he reminded and let her go.

Sakura's face reddened a little at the message and smiled, "don't worry Kakashi, I'll keep that in mind," she winked at him before she was off in her own little world as she skipped out of sight into the crowd.

The silver haired Jounin smirked a bit and went the opposite direction from the medic to get ready himself.

Sakura stood before the store she practically had to hunt down. It was a dress store and the gowns on display looked gorgeous. Sakura found one in particular basically screaming at her to wear it and entered the building.

Inside was a bit dark, the isles were a bit cramped up because of the size of the actual shop, and the place smelt musty, most likely due to the smell of old clothes in the back room.

Sakura found the dress she was looking for; it was a red kimono with white ribbons on it. It looked absolutely amazing and she could already picture herself in it, but the smile fell right off her face when she saw the price, "500 Ryo?" she exclaimed and slouched in disappointment.

Now Sakura didn't know what to wear, and walked around aimlessly in the shop in search for a nice dress to wear for the evening, and the clock was ticking, fast.

"Can I help you with something?" came an aged voice behind the medic.

The medic jumped and faced the voice to find a short old woman smiling kindly at her, "oh, umm, yeah, I'm looking for something nice to wear for tonight's festival," Sakura said sweetly, and she was almost desperate to get help.

Quickly the old woman pranced around in joy, "wonderful, come with me, let's just take a look at what we have," the old woman gestured at Sakura to follow her and so she did.

At the counter at the back of the shop, the woman went behind the counter and gave a thoughtful stare at the pink haired Kunoichi before her and nodded, "we just got this ordered and it came in this morning; you're in luck," announced the elderly lady.

She knelt down, disappearing from the medic's sight and hearing the lady unlocking something by the sound of it and stood up with a white box with a red bow on it. Sakura bit her bottom lip at her own anxiety and awaited what was inside the box. Swiftly, the old woman opened the box to reveal a beautiful white kimono, with pink lacing and frilly bits on the sleaves.

Sakura stared in awe at the gown and was blown away by the beauty, "that's beautiful," she exclaimed with her jaw dropped open. The old lady giggled and said, "of course it is, it's the best in the shop, and when I saw you, I thought it would be perfect for you; after all, you have the perfect figure and your hair suits the colours nicely," Sakura blushed faintly at the woman's compliment.

Not only could Sakura get this nice dress, but she got a pair of matching killer heels with it, but when she saw the price, she almost fainted, "I can't afford that, I can't buy something that's 700 Ryo, I can't even afford what's displayed at the window," she jerked a thumb at the red kimono at the window and sighed.

The old lady was disappointed somewhat before an idea crossed her mind, "but for you my lovely lady, I'll half the price; only because this kimono suits you better than anyone I've ever met," Sakura lit up in hope, "really?" she yipped, receiving an instant nod from the lady across the counter.

"Oh, thank you so much; just wait here, don't let anyone buy that dress, I'll be back with the money soon," Sakura bolted out the door before the lady could say anything in reply.

The sun was already setting and Sakura could already see people setting up the dance floor for the evening and some people were already dressed up and ready to go. Thinking that she was going to be late, Sakura decided ninja-ing would be the best option to get to the motel in time and get her money, but while leaping through the crowd swiftly and running past the villagers with ease, she suddenly hit something and fell back to only get her wrist snagged at before she could hit the ground.

Her mind dazed momentarily before she realised what had just happened, "watch where you're going Sakura-chan, you're going to hit someone if you aren't careful," came the smooth voice that held her wrist tight.

Sakura shook her head and looked up to find none other than Kakashi holding her and grinning like an idiot, "sorry," she panted, trying to catch her breath and make this conversation short so that she could get back to the shop in time.

"What's the sudden rush?" Kakashi asked simply.

Sakura gulped and gasped to catch her breath and finally replied, "I need to get back to the motel to get the money to pay for the dress I found," Kakashi sighed under a low grunt, "how much do you need?" the straightforward question came along.

Sakura was uneasy with the idea of Kakashi handing out generous amounts of cash, but she was in a hurry, "uhh, 350," she answered, hoping the Copy Nin wouldn't jump out of his shoes at her response.

He rolled his eyes with a sigh and pulled out his wallet, "you owe me big," he reminded and handed her said amount of money and grinned.

"Thank you, and don't worry, I'll pay you back at the motel once we're through the night," Sakura pocketed the money and smiled sincerely at the Jounin before her, who only smiled back and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Staring at where Kakashi was standing before, the bubble-gum haired medic shook her head and made her way back to the store in time to get ready.

"Took you a while," mocked the old woman when Sakura finally entered the building.

"So sorry, here you go, 350 Ryo in cash," she said, placing the money on the counter.

The old woman smiled pleasingly and put the money away, "now, the festival is in less than an hour, and I know you don't want to be late," the woman started, trying to look busy as she fiddled with the ribbons of the white kimono, "not only do I sell dresses, I help prepare beautiful women such as yourself for wonderful events such as this one. Come on,"

Sakura raised an eyebrow before she delightedly stepped out back with the aged woman and changed into the kimono, with the help of the old lady to make sure it fitted her perfectly without preventing her from breathing when it came to tying the back.

There were only about two layers of clothing to put on, and it wasn't difficult at all. The old lady was a professional when it came to these jobs and by the looks of it, she loved it. The top half of the kimono was not thick like those old fashioned dresses with massive wigs; it was layered with white silk, covering the bigger portion of her breasts. The sleaves hung loose and was laced with little frills at the shoulder, revealing an open shoulder and collarbone.

Sakura looked into the body mirror and stared mouth agape at her reflection, "you look good so far, but now for the makeup," declared the woman and pulled Sakura's wrist to a chair and wheeled over a tray of eyeliners, shadows, lipstick and other accessories.

The old lady pinned up Sakura's pink hair so that it was displayed in a nice bun, allowing a few tresses of her pink locks to stray over her face. With matching colours added to her face, Sakura the given some earrings to wear and a bracelet.

Sakura was done after putting on her killer heels and was standing at the counter, looking fantastic, and just in time too, "I will send the clothes to Kongou-kun don't you worry, and I'm pretty sure you'll have a wonderful time tonight," the old lady smiled dearly at the dressed up Kunoichi before her, who smiled back.

"Again, thank you so much, how can I ever repay you for doing this for me," Sakura wondered, her smile constant on her face.

"Just have a good time," the old lady spat back tonelessly.

Sakura giggled and made her way out the door to be greeted with Kakashi, fine and smart looking. He was wearing a standard fancy navy blue tux (typical), tie-less, but still looked smart. His mask was still attached no doubt and his hair was just the same as always: naturally spiked to the left. His headband however was not with him and his Sharingan eye was revealed.

Kakashi's eyes widened at the sight of his former student and his heart nearly melted, "you look…amazing," he commented smoothly and held out his arm.

Even Kitsune and Kuro looked clean and Kuro had a cute white bow around his neck. Kitsune had a little red bow attached to her left ear, giving her a feminine appearance through her foxy figure.

Sakura blushed at his words and linked her arm around his and off they went. The sun had long set and the lights went on, already inviting the evening goers and the festival was going well so far.

People were often glancing at the well-dressed Sakura, who simply smiled at everyone who smiled back and gazed at he appearance. Either that or it was the fact that she was walking with someone who could almost look to be her father, but neither cared. They just wanted to enjoy the wonderful night without anything spoiling it.

On their way down the busy twilight street, Sakura stared at all the jewellery and other accessories that were on sale. Everything was cheap at that and everything looked beautiful. There were stalls and other mini shops selling cheap food for the night, all knowing they'd get good profit out of the event.

The pair sat down at a picnic table next to the dance floor and happily listened to the music. Sakura was bobbing her head to the beat of the sounds and was mentally urging herself to go dance, but she didn't want to look like a total pretty loser and dance by herself. Her Inner self was tugging her to ask Kakashi, but the courage to ask never came.

Kitsune, who was sitting on the table with Kuro, meowed at the medic and nudged her gently. Sakura knew Kitsune knew, and she soon gave up with a sigh.

"Umm, Kakashi?" Sakura started nervously.

"Hmm?" replied the bored Jounin.

"Can you dance with me, please?" wow, that was easier than she thought she had anticipated.

Kakashi gave her a sideward glance, "why?" okay…that might've been a bit rude of the Copy Nin to ask a question like that, but Sakura knew he lacked people skills and answered him anyway, "because I'm bored and I just want to have a good time and let the time pass," Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a good dancer, just so you know," he warned as he got up, escorting the young medic to the dance floor.

Sakura didn't expect Kakashi to admit that he couldn't dance, and no doubt was she expecting him to be right either. On the dance floor, Kakashi didn't look as though he couldn't dance, but in fact that he didn't really want to dance at all. It disappointed the pink haired Kunoichi to see that Kakashi wasn't interested in the social activities.

Eventually, with not much movement going on between either Jounins, Kakashi lazily hauled himself back to the table and sat down with a huff. Sakura wasn't sensing any of this going anywhere positive, and she hated it.

Sadly, Sakura walked off, leaving Kakashi alone with his thoughts to contemplate over the things that definitely went wrong, "Sakura?" he wondered, watching her walk down the hill to the river, not paying attention to anyone who may have passed her.

Kuro glowered at the man sitting in front of him and growled lowly at him, "what?" Kakashi retorted, to only receive a small growl from both foxes, as if they were trying to tell him something he seemed to have missed by a mile.

"Ugh, okay don't worry, I'll sort it out," Kakashi rolled his eyes at the two foxes and got up, glancing back at the now grinning foxes before making his way down the path as casual as he could.

Sakura stood on a bridge that arched over the river. She leaned against the railing of the bridge, staring at her reflection that stared back on the water. The moon was up and that was all light could give, besides the twilight of the village.

The pink haired medic had already come to a decision that this night was going to suck; she was already in a down mood and trying to do something about it would probably make it worse for her. With a deep sigh, Sakura contemplated over the loss of a close friend. It was behind her now, but she found it so hard to let that fact get to her head without bursting into tears whenever someone mentioned Naruto's name in a sad conversation about his death. Sakura stared deep in thought at her reflection; even though she looked beautiful, she felt there was something missing in her life, as well as something missing in her current situation.

It was true, Sakura needed someone to come save her from all worries; a man who was willing to deal with the pain she was practically radiating off her.

"Are you alright?" a low calm voice asked.

Sakura knew for sure who it was and she didn't bother looking at him, "yeah…just thinking about something," she replied, staring at her watery reflection that bore the same expressions she had, moving sluggishly from the movements of the water as it flowed downstream.

Kakashi stood there, staring at the pink haired beauty fall apart in front of him. His hands twitched at his sides, having nothing to do about the issue but wait for Sakura's move. He edged closer to the upset medic and placed his hand gently on her shoulder for comfort.

The medic didn't move, but sighed instead as she finally glanced up at the Jounin with watered eyes. Kakashi knew. He knew what was happening to her. He frowned at her expression and couldn't help but sense the slight rage in herself; curse that Sharingan for being able to read chakra.

"I can't believe Sasuke's gone now…" Sakura sobbed, though trying not to.

Kakashi recognised the fact that Sakura had dropped the suffix 'kun' and had only noticed that _now _after the entire mission had practically flown past.

Sakura was trembling a bit and gazed upon her shaking hands, "I can't believe I killed him," she definitely didn't seem proud at all. Sure she was an elite ninja, an experienced medic Jounin whose skills were almost to the match of Tsunade's, but Sakura still couldn't handle killing. She was soft at heart.

"You didn't mean to…it was an accident…" Kakashi tried to make her feel better.

"But I just…can't believe he's-" before Sakura could finish her rant about Sasuke's death, she was pulled into the silver haired man for a hug, "I know," he whispered softly, rubbing her shoulders.

He pulled Sakura from him and gazed into her emerald orbs with hope, "but Tsunade-sama gave us direct orders to have fun and enjoy ourselves to get over the loss of Naruto, and she even warned us about Sasuke and you knew he would come," he paused and with a thumb, he gently wiped the medic's tears from her eyes without smudging the makeup off.

"Sasuke's gone now and we can't do anything about that, but get over his death too," Kakashi smirked thoughtfully, "so how about a dance to pass the time?"

Sakura's eyes widened a little at the unexpected question, but before she could say anything, Kakashi continued, "besides, I can't just watch the prettiest female in Konoha stay depressed now can I?" Sakura blushed at the grin on his face and smiled.

"Thank you," she whispered and took his arm.

The heavy beat of the dance was strong and people were raging about like lunatics and having the time of their lives. Kakashi and Sakura made their way up the hill again and saw Kuro and Kitsune hadn't moved from the table yet, and only smiled at the two Jounins, having probably figured out through instinct that everything was alright between them.

The two had only been on the dance floor for about three seconds when the music had stopped and a slow song started. With a large blush on the medic's face, she noticed how Kakashi was now actually interested to dance…with her.

The Copy Nin grabbed Sakura's wrist and pulled her towards him and placed both hands on her waist. In a natural reaction, Sakura wrapped her arms around the Jounin's neck, her blush reddening even more, and making Kakashi chuckle.

Moving side to side with the steady music, Sakura realised the song was a really sad song, where the message said something about love and how it could not be reached. Where the road in life was a massive mistake; it made Sakura almost agree to it. Absentmindedly Sakura rest her head against Kakashi's chest, and looking to her left in sheer misery.

She already felt the tears run down her face, not caring that her makeup was probably going to get smudged off by her tears. She shifted her head so that her head was resting as much as it could on the man's shoulder.

Kakashi heard her soft sobs and embraced her in a tight hug. He stared at her pink tresses and leaned to her ear, "memories last, but pain fades…" he said softly, his hot breath tickling the medic's skin.

Sakura opened her eyes at the sound of his oh so calm voice and her crying turned to light sobs. For some reason, she started to understand what Kakashi was saying. She sighed softly and tightened her grip around the Copy Nin's neck as if he would crumble away and she would be alone.

Being a simple reaction, Kakashi squeezed gently and sighed deeply against her neck, sending chills running down the medic's spine. Sakura never felt so warm and fuzzy like now; it never happened between her and Sasuke. Actually, it's never happened to her before in her entire life.

She reluctantly lifted her head from the somehow cosy position and gazed up at Kakashi's mismatched eyes to find his face getting closer to hers within seconds. Before she knew it, her face flushed a new shade of red when she felt Kakashi's masked lips press on the corner of her mouth while his hands remained on the woman's waist. Even though her eyes widened and she found almost completely wrong, her hands trailed from around the Copy Nin's neck to his face.

Kakashi froze at her touch when he had a vague idea where her hands may have wanted to go and wanted to do. He gazed unsure out of the corner of his eye at the medic he was so close to and pondered what she was basically up to.

Kakashi pulled his face away from Sakura's who still had her hands gently planted on his masked face. She blushed faintly when she looked into the Jounin's mismatched eyes and gulped a little to push the lump down her throat. She stroked her thumb over Kakashi's masked lips before slipping her fingers under the navy fabric that covered the greater portion of his face.

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**Author's notes:** yeah, how you like me now? This story is getting fluffier by each chapter, yet that's an annoying thing for me because I'm getting closer to the heavier lemony bits now, and it's awkward when you have a little brother ready to read over your shoulder when you least expect him :S. So yeah, I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Just so you know, the next chapter is the fluffiest and lemony one, so bare with me, it's basically my first time writing something this intense so yeah. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it; I could actually picture Kuro and Kitsune with their fancy dressing (if that's what you could call it I guess). I'm not good as describing kimonos but I'm sure you get the idea. I had to give Sakura a quick explanation as in to what she had to do for Kakashi all day, mwahahahaha... So anyways, reviews now please .


	29. Chapter 29: A Good Night's Sleep

**Author's notes:** Hey, it's me again; sorry it took me a while to update, I was working on said chapter for a while. Just also here to mention how much I am loving this story so far; it's really fun and I love the feedback from you guys, including the hits I've gotten and the reviews and how positive they are, I really appreciate them XD. This chapter contains LEMON just so you know (that's probably why I rated it M just in cases). Yes this is the climax of the story. The main event and probably the best part (depending on what kind of person you are :P). This is basically my first time writing lemon scenes, and no doubt I didn't do as well as I thought :S, but I really tried, so lemme know how I did :). Hope you like this chapter, so enjoy .

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CHAPTER TWENTY NINE: A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

Sakura was mentally surprised when Kakashi didn't stop her, but only stared at her in the same way he always did: calm as usual. But that didn't mean she would stop right there; Sakura felt the fabric on her fingertips and almost hesitated to remove his mask, but her heart led her on.

Slowly, the pink haired medic pulled down the dark blue coloured material, to slowly reveal the man's nose, slowly uncovering his lips and then it was completely off his face. Up close Kakashi was even hotter than Sakura had thought; that she couldn't deny, definitely not. She felt like screaming like a little school girl and lunge at him, but she was so entranced by the beauty of his face, that she didn't realise she was staring at him for so long, and that he was staring at her just as much.

"Sakura-chan…" Kakashi tried to pull Sakura out of her reverie and raised an eyebrow.

The pink haired medic mentally shook her head and gazed up to meet the taller Jounin's incompatible eyes and a blush flushed over her cheeks like water. She just stared in awe at the man's face as if she had never seen a face before, which in this case, she had never seen a face like his before…ever. Of course Sakura had seen her fair share of good-looking guys in her life, but Kakashi…he was something completely different compared to them.

She gently brushed her thumb over his slightly parted lips and traced his jaw line carefully, "d-did I ever tell you how gorgeous your face looks…?" her voice sounded a bit cracked, most likely because of the slight shock in her, making speech almost impossible for her.

Kakashi chuckled at her blatant question but gave a straight answer, right after pulling her a bit closer to him, "only a few times…" he whispered, running his thumb over Sakura's eyes; she was crying? Only just, Kakashi would have guessed. But the hell with wondering about what Sakura was so…upset or happy about, Kakashi had a young girl, no, a young woman in his arms basically wanting him.

Sakura felt her heart pound hard in her chest and took whatever chances she had left. Literally rising to the opportunity, Sakura closed her eyes as she neared the Copy Nin's face until their lips finally met.

When Sakura had actually touched his lips with the tips of her fingers, they were soft, but once her lips were pressed against his, they felt even softer. Who knew Kakashi could kiss so well, '_no one_,' she thought, seen the fact that practically no one had ever seen his face.

'_My first kiss too__…_'

The Copy Nin's tongue delved into Sakura's mouth, starting a little wrestle between his tongue and hers. Sakura opened her mouth more to allow Kakashi better access to this slightly wrong but passionate kiss. Sakura felt his hand that was at first rested on her waist, wrap around the small of her back and pulling her as close as he could without breaking the kiss.

Sakura moaned under her near breathless kiss as soon as she was completely flushed up against him. She wrapped her arms around the Jounin's neck and pulled herself a little higher so that she was at eye level with the man's face before her. With one hand keeping her a hold of Kakashi, Sakura thread her other free hand through his soft silver hair, playing with the ends at the back of his neck.

Kakashi moaned as he cocked his head slightly to get better access into the medic's mouth, all his worries and agony being washed away in the process.

This was so wrong, on so many levels, but yet it felt so right. Sakura just felt so right being in Kakashi's arms, and she didn't even care anymore who he was to her…she was his former student, her friend, and someone she probably treated as a brother almost.

'_Screw the truth! You__'__re in the middle of a damn kiss girl, just keep going and pretend no one__'__s around to know_,' even though Inner Sakura was annoying and hated a lot by her Outer self, she was right.

Of course being in a public event meant having a bit of manners. The two reluctantly broke the kiss for both air and respect for being seen making out in public. Only a sweet smile and a faint blush was seen on the pink haired medic's face.

Kakashi stared at the medic in his arms, who only leaned in again for another kiss, this time much shorter than the first. Kakashi smiled after she pulled away again and embraced her in a warming hug. The medic sighed as she was almost cradled in the Copy Nin's arms and swayed to the calming music as it was slowly coming to an end.

After the music had stopped, Sakura hadn't noticed how her legs had almost gone stiff from standing for so long like that and was escorted back to the park bench where Kuro and Kitsune had been patiently waiting for them, and who also couldn't help but watch their Jounin masters make out before them and perhaps giving them a few naughty ideas themselves.

Sakura yawned a little and gently rubbed her eyes and slouched on the bench. Kakashi chuckled as he sat down next to her and wrapped a hand around her waist, "tired are we?" he teased, kissing the top of her head.

Sakura giggled as his breath tickled her ear and shook her head, "just a little," she sighed, leaning against the older Jounin.

Kakashi gently rubbed her shoulders and nudged her, "lets go back to the motel…" he suggested teasingly and pulled the medic to her feet, though not letting go of her.

"But…" he stated firmly, turning Sakura around so that she was facing him, "let's take the 'back door' there so that Kongou-sama won't know we came in," the slight tease in his voice gave Sakura enough clues as to what the perverted Copy Nin had in mind.

Surely Sakura was Kakashi's Nurse Lady, but that didn't mean he would take advantage of her, although he was thinking it.

Abruptly Kakashi pulled Sakura up against him and held up a tiger sign with his free hand and grinned at the medic until…'_poof!__'_ They reappeared in their motel room bed with Sakura pinned down by Kakashi.

With a wide smirk on his now unmasked face, Kakashi leaned in closer and began his work by practically devouring the medic with his lips. Sakura moaned at the touch and began unbuttoning his shirt without breaking the kiss of course.

Grinning under the connection, Kakashi leaned back, pulling Sakura upright so that he could untie her hair and let it disarray along her shoulders and dove in for yet another passionate kiss.

Now completely shirtless, Kakashi subtly undid Sakura's kimono that basically held the bust part of the dress in place. With almost a puzzle to get through, Kakashi was almost more focused on getting the kimono off Sakura without making it seem so awkward.

Sakura was free from that kimono, wearing nothing but her bra and undies. Kakashi pressed her back down on her back and stared her right in the eyes, as if there was something missing.

"Sakura-chan," he finally spoke up.

"Yeah?" Sakura stared up at him so innocently.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" he asked, noticing how turned on she was right now that was slowly dimming away because of the question. Before the medic could answer, Kakashi continued, "because once it happens you can't turn back right?"

Sakura calmed her breathing and said, "I know…" she looked a little concerned before coming to realise how obvious it was that she wanted him right now.

"Well…?" Kakashi opted to the first part of the question.

Sakura matched her gaze with Kakashi's and gave a firm, "yes," and the moves went on again, with Kakashi smiling softly at her and giving her soft kisses on her collarbone, slowly trailing up her neck and planting his soft lips on hers, while his hands freely felt their way down and undid her bra.

The medic felt her skin crawl with goose bumps when Kakashi cupped his hand around her breast and kissing her so passionately, but like she really cared. Sakura should've known from the beginning how much she wanted him, but she could never truly admit it, therefore she was constantly fighting with herself between truth and lies. She had always personally admitted Kakashi was good-looking and always nice to her, but she never knew how much she had actually loved him. Hang on. Did Sakura really think that? Did she really love him? Oh crap, Sakura couldn't ponder this question right _now_; she's right in the middle of something that she would no doubt think back on in the morning.

Sakura was taken aback with instant widened eyes when she found Kakashi glaring hungrily at her in all his naked glory. Not only that, but so was Sakura. Though she wasn't shocked at how quick the silver haired Jounin did that, she was starting to feel quite nervous about the whole situation.

All her worries and anxiety was washed away when she felt Kakashi's soft lips on hers and his tongue slipping inside her mouth and giving her that longing pleasure and moaning gratifyingly as she took a hold of the man's strong arms, feeling the way they tensed up when he moved them.

Kakashi was starting to get the wrong idea, but he knew Sakura was almost just as desperate as he was, and he couldn't back out now; not in the state he was in: naked and sweaty already. Sakura was sure she was drooling when she saw him the way he was.

Another passionate kiss, and Sakura was stripped completely now and had her legs parted to accommodate the silver haired man. Once settled in a comfortable position, Kakashi gazed into Sakura's now hungry eyes in search of any weakness in her, and yet he found none. This was perfect. Yes, Kakashi had to admit it that he was almost enjoying every minute of this.

He was in.

He noticed Sakura's breath hitch at the contact and felt her tense beneath him. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll protect you," Sakura felt his hot breath against her already moist skin and found her ability to breathe properly again. She felt Kakashi's hands trail up and down her hot body as he began his slow movements. The medic felt the pain momentarily and gripped hard at the blankets and arched her back into Kakashi, who took it as slow and gently as he could without hurting his precious cherry blossom.

The pain had finally ended.

Sakura was relaxed again now and Kakashi was back to kissing her, while still moving up and down. Kakashi felt the medic's hands feel him as if she was almost blind, and in the dark the Copy Nin had the faint idea that she was sort of blind. He kissed her softly as his hand made its way down the Kunoichi's thigh and back up, slowly picking up the pace.

The medic moaned loudly under the older Jounin, "Kakashi…" she called out to him under her breath, leaning forward until her lips met Kakashi's. The Copy Nin moaned in pleasure as his only form of reply, due to the pair of lips devouring his.

Sakura felt her sweaty body rub against Kakashi's and felt the pace quicken slightly. Moaning gratifyingly again, Sakura ran her hands along the Jounin's back, feeling his muscles under the padding of her fingers.

Kakashi felt he was reaching his climax, and watched as Sakura arched her back into him, urging him to keep going until there was nothing left in them. His breathing was becoming short. Was Kakashi getting tired already? Who knew Sakura wanted him this badly and tire him out so much after about twenty minutes. Sakura's heart was pumping and her skin was covered in both her sweat and Kakashi's; hell she didn't know how exhilarating this was, especially being this her first time.

Even as a child, Sakura had always saved her virginity for her one and only crush, Sasuke, but after he had faded out of the picture, Sakura didn't know what to do anymore. Even though Sakura seemed strong and happy all the time, she was still struggling inside to find someone who really cared about her.

'_Oh for Kami__'__s sake Sakura, Kakashi__'__s yours, it__'__s been proven already_,' Inner Sakura wailed happily whilst punching the air triumphantly.

While in the midst of a long kiss, Sakura didn't want to be interrupted by her Inner self any more, especially now, '_look you, I__'__m in the middle of something; you can nag at me all you want, but not _now_; wait till morning!_' she spat back inwardly, throwing back a few curses at her Inner self and enjoying her lasting moment.

After that Inner Sakura shut up from then on, having nothing else to say, but listen to her Outer's pleasing groans while having a pair of large hands exploring her body as much as they could.

Sakura felt Kakashi moan under his husky breath, tickling the medic's wet neck with his hot breath. The medic thread her hands through the man's silver mane at the back of his neck, playing with it while they kissed.

Another pleasurable moan and Sakura felt him thrust again, this time a little more hesitant than the last, giving her the vague idea he was right on the verge of reaching his max, arousing her just that little bit more. Kakashi stared hungrily at the medic beneath him and grinned, finally withdrawing himself from her and her tight grasp.

Kakashi leaned to the side of Sakura, who was still lying there with her legs parted and a little stunned. This would probably be the most amount of action she'd ever get for a very long time, not that Sakura minded; she was just extremely tired now. She rolled over in her current state so that she was now lying on top of Kakashi, who automatically snaked his hands around her waist to keep her there.

No words were exchanged, just smiles and soft kisses.

Even after the recent event between Kakashi and Sakura, the pink haired medic was still smiling as if nothing had ever happened, and in her case, if felt like nothing did, except that she kissed Kakashi a few times and had 'casually' spent the evening together like any normal couple would.

Sakura gently but tiredly rest her head on the Jounin's chest, hearing his heartbeat thump hastily and sighed. Kakashi gazed at her from where he lay and smiled sweetly at her before the matter truly came to him.

"You know…Tsunade-sama will have our heads for this if she found out…" then, Sakura jerked her head up with a quick glare of shock before shaking her head.

"I don't think Tsunade should need to know about what happened tonight, but I don't think she would be too worried if she knew we had something going between us," she reassured and kissed Kakashi softly on the lips before returning to her cosy position on the man's chest and sighing once again.

Kakashi just sighed deeply in relief whilst still trying to recover from the bonding between two long-time friends. He got rid of those thoughts, hoping they would forever leave him be.

Tugging at the sheets, Kakashi pulled it over Sakura and his own body, kissing the medic on the top of her head lightly before allowing his wary body to rest at peace and sleep until it was extremely late the next day.

Just as he would expect from himself.

After so many sleepless nights, Sakura was able to dream peacefully, yet it wasn't what she had expected of herself so quickly. Seeing Kakashi flirting with her in such a manner was a little surreal for Sakura, but she didn't care. She was no longer suffering tormenting and agonising nightmares of reliving Naruto's death while Sasuke would come along and make things worse.

Then her dream had changed to something she truly expected of herself. She found herself surrounded by all her loved ones, smiling at her, but that wasn't what had surprised her. Naruto and Sasuke were there too, all happy and grateful for something. Again, the medic didn't care, all she wanted was for her dreams to be good ones instead of ones that made her life feel like crap.

The first thing that brought her to day thirteen of the mission was…nothing. Strangely enough, nothing was there to wake her up; for once Sakura was given the permission to sleep as long as she wanted.

A sleepy grunt escaped her mouth and opened her eyes, groggily trying to check her surroundings when she had remembered then what had happened. She blushed deeply at the thought of the evening and how well it had actually gone…she had quite enjoyed it last night, even though it may have seemed wrong on so many levels.

She lifted her head, tasting her now dry mouth as she lazily glanced ahead to find Kakashi sleeping like a little angel, '_aww, how sweet_,' Sakura said inwardly, a smile forming on her lips as she stared at the snoozing Copy Nin.

Okay, Sakura always knew basically from the beginning that Kakashi was hiding a gorgeous face, but she hadn't really noticed how gorgeous. The morning sun was already playing on his face; his eye twitching a little in the light, as if that would shoo it away. His scar ran down his face like a tear, stopping at the edge of his cheekbone. Sakura blinked a few times, her smile dropping to a light smirk.

'_Man, Kakashi was an animal last night_,' she blushed, her mischievous grin returning.

Steadily, the bubble-gum haired medic managed to lift herself off the Copy Nin without waking him and shuffled her way to the bathroom and closed it with a sigh.

Stuff locking the door; after what happened last night, Sakura wouldn't care if Kakashi came waltzing in the bathroom while she was taking a shower. She allowed the hot water to run awhile, while she contemplated over the mission's progress.

She slipped inside the shower and began rinsing off her body, scrubbing in a body wash that reeked of roses and vanilla. Slowly she poured the lotion on her arms and massaged the liquids into her skin, when she suddenly felt a pair of hands snake their way around her waist from behind and startling her.

"_Yaah!_" she yipped, turning around to find none other than Kakashi grinning sheepishly at her.

Sakura felt a little embarrassed at the sudden surprise but brushed it off as soon as she was pulled close to the Copy Nin, "sorry if I startled you," his calm voice announced, kissing her neck passionately.

The medic sighed and linked her arms lazily around the man's neck and rest her head on his shoulder, "morning Kakashi," she started cheerfully like any other day.

Kakashi chuckled again, "morning my little cherry blossom," he whispered, tracing his hands down from the medic's neck to her waist, making little circular motions with his finger.

Still under the shower, Sakura reached back and grabbed her shampoo that she washed her hair with. As casually as she could and while Kakashi was caressing her softly, Sakura smeared a handful of her vanilla and cherry blossom scented lotion in the man's silver hair and massaging his scalp. Kakashi pouted innocently, "what are you doing?" he asked, not moving his head but looking out of the corner of his eye at the pink locks that strayed on the medic's shoulders.

"Washing your hair, what else?" Sakura replied simply, rubbing her fingers deeper along his scalp.

Kakashi had no objections to Sakura giving him a nice massage, but it wasn't totally necessary to wash his hair in the process, but he just shrugged it off and sighed, taking in the strong aroma of vanilla that was aerating off the medic's body like a scented candle.

The feel of her skin was almost…silky to the touch, she was so soft under his embrace, yet she was so strong and determined underneath all that beauty, such as last night; she was something he didn't quite expect of her in an event like that.

"So what's the plan for today?" Sakura asked cheerfully, overcoming the noise of the rushing water from the shower.

"Hmm," came a reply from the silver haired Copy Nin.

Sakura waited, knowing Kakashi wasn't just humming because he liked the feel of her against him, but most likely a hum of thought, "we go home," he said plainly, smiling softly at the medic's reaction.

Sakura was tense now, and by the sound of it, she didn't really want to go home just yet, but she had to be back eventually to help Tsunade and the others at the hospital with her duty as apprentice and medic.

The medic forced herself to calm down, knowing she wouldn't want to spend the rest of her life here, even though it was a nice place, Sakura still missed the feeling of home and her own apartment, not to mention a proper bed such as her own. Oh the soft feeling of her own bed again, stuffed with her own familiar scent; she longed for it since she left on the mission.

Sakura smiled under the man's embrace and pulled away from him to look him in the eye. Staring into his mismatched eyes, lazy as they always are, Sakura felt the need to say something, or more like tell him something, but she didn't know how to tell him.

The medic smiled sweetly at him and kissed him softly on the cheek before hugging him again, "I love you…" she whispered softly in his ear before holding her breath towards his reaction, which was yet to come.

Silence ensued between them, not counting the rushing of water in the shower, but it wasn't long before Kakashi pulled the medic from him and pulled her close again for a passionate kiss. Sakura was a little startled at first, but shrugged it off and thread her hands through the man's silver hair.

Kakashi broke the kiss and stared Sakura in the eyes before smiling sweetly at her, "I love you too, Sakura-chan," with that, he embraced the medic in his arms, sighing softly as he rest his chin on the Kunoichi's head, his smile constant.

Sakura closed her eyes, wishing this moment would last forever, but she knew it wouldn't last much longer than it was needed, "we'd better get ready for this afternoon; we are leaving today after all," Kakashi reminded, kissing the top of the medic's head and letting her go. Without further conversation, Kakashi exited the shower to dry off, leaving Sakura to contemplate over things while she washed herself.

Throughout the entire mission, Sakura had doubted the outcomes, and continued doing so until something really big started to happen. It was the fact that she was falling for her former sensei, even though it was completely wrong of her to do that; she had fallen for someone who came rather unexpected in her love life. Sakura knew what could happen if people knew of their current relationship, and she thought of what Tsunade would think, but she was willing to face the consequences of her actions if that were the case.

To Sakura, Kakashi was caring and strong; he was someone Sakura really looked up to in the ninja world. The Copy Nin was always there to save him and Sakura was always there to heal his wounds for doing so. Sakura mentally cursed herself for ever letting herself get into those situations; she knew she was the weak one on the team, but she was always trying her very best to keep up, and things were only made worse for the medic when Kakashi came to the rescue.

Again, Sakura cursed.

Sakura had wished she was a little stronger than that, so she could prove to Kakashi that she was able to take care of herself, but that wasn't always her fault. Kakashi was always there to willingly help his team members when they needed it, and in many cases, Sakura needed his help.

And right now Sakura needed him.

Somehow Kakashi changed how Sakura thought of life ever since Naruto died and since then Sakura wished the handsome Jounin could fix it for her, yet he was scarred as well; thinking back on it in a way he hated to much. They tied together, making them almost perfect for each other, but Kakashi was a pervert, and Sakura was a well-known medic of the Leaf; that was one thing that mixed together like water and oil, but that was also one thing Sakura would have to deal with if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

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**Author's notes:** Yep, that was it, the lemon has finally been lifted off my shoulders, and I can focus on the easier bits now. So how was that scene, seen that it's the first time I've written lemon scenes before :S. I tried to make Sakura the one who has the unexpected burst of lust and wants Kakashi as if he would vanish the next day. I tried to make this chapter as romantic as I could, which also included the bit in the shower :P. So, without further ado, I'd better finish up the next chapter and update as soon as I can; only a few more to go and I'm done XD. So, hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (even though it was very awkward for me :S but I lived), now reviews please and I'll update a.s.a.p


	30. Chapter 30: On The Road Again

**Author's notes:** So sorry if my last chapter (a.k.a the Lemon Chapter) wasn't exactly what you guys expected, but I'm just not really good at detailing those sort of scenes so again, sorry. In the mean time, I've been hard out working on this story (not that I got very far), in hopes of completing it very soon. I've been working on this story since...December I think, if not you can refresh my memory if need be :P. Thank you again for reviewing on each chapter and letting me know what you think of it, but now that the next chapter is up, I'd like for you (pretty please) to review again, and letting me know how I'm getting on with this so yeah. Hope you enjoy the thirtieth chapter of the longest story on _my_ record book XD, see you on the other side :P.

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CHAPTER THIRTY: ON THE ROAD AGAIN

"Really?" the busty hazel-eyed woman asked.

The pug dog nodded, "yes, according to Kakashi-san, everything about the mission progress and Sasuke's demise is inscribed in that scroll," he hesitated to mention Sasuke's death and almost cursed himself for bringing it up.

The hazel-eyed blonde sighed heavily and stared at the note a moment more before saying, "thank you for letting me know as soon as you were able to," the pug nodded curtly and watched as Tsunade rolled up the scroll and stored it away in her desk with all her other memos.

Pakkun was almost hesitant in saying something in reply, "I was also told that they should be back home in a few days and will update you on the rest of the mission," he said, watching Tsunade rub her temples frustratingly.

"Good, I just feel sorry for Sakura-san; she admired Sasuke-kun in every way and everything about him, but he was so involved in the killing of his older brother that he never returned those feelings," she sighed again, taking the sight of her load of unread scrolls and memos, slowly piling up by the hour.

Tsunade looked off to her right and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "I'd better get back to Kakashi-san," Pakkun added, cocking his head slantwise to look at the Hokage.

The blonde haired woman sat upright on her chair and eyed the pug a while before making a solitary flick of her hand, "you are dismissed, thank you Pakkun, and I pray to see our two best ninjas return safely," she announced, spinning around on her chair so that she was staring at the view of the village out the window.

"Hai," and without further words, Pakkun left the building quickly.

'_Sakura__…_' Tsunade decision was falling in place now.

It was rather quite between Sakura and Kakashi as they packed their bags for their journey home.

Kuro and Kitsune sat on the windowsill and watched as their Jounin masters passed one another with smiles and the occasional peck on the cheek, which was pretty normal for a couple.

The two foxes had been staying somewhat close since festival, but they kept themselves a distance between their own masters for their own privacy as well as theirs, which was a good thing that they didn't stay so damn close during the Jounins' intimate event the night before.

"All ready?" Kakashi asked, his backpack already packed and on his back.

"Yep, almost," Sakura grabbed the photo of her and her team and stuffed it in the front pocket of her bag and swung it over her shoulder.

With a smile to assure she was ready, Kakashi opened the door for the medic, eyeing her as she went out. Kitsune and Kuro immediately clung to their owners and sat on their preferred spot: the shoulder.

Kakashi wrapped his hand around the medic's waist, keeping her close as they walked downstairs to the lobby, where they would most likely be greeted with a rather hyperactive Kongou. Once on ground floor, Kakashi looked around cautiously for the old man, who was napping on the countertop like any old person after a long day, but it was only the morning.

"I guess Kongou-sama had a long night as well," the Copy Nin remarked, walking over to the elder and prodding his shoulder.

At an instant, Kongou reacted and sat upright with widened eyes and fists up, "Yaah it's the enemy!" he shouted, making Kakashi almost block his ears at the sound of his voice.

He winced, "morning Kongou-sama," Kakashi smiled brightly at the old man and watched as he shook his head and stretched out his arms.

"Oh, sorry Kakashi-san, I was having such a wonderful dream about back when I was in the Second Great Ninja War, and how I lead my team through the dangerous planes of the Grass territory and defended the village with my life…" Kongou began ranting on about how he defeated several ninjas at once, but neither Kakashi or Sakura were really listening.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the man and backed away a bit, glancing over at the pink haired medic, who was only playing with the brown fox sitting on her shoulder.

A smile graced his masked face before returning his attention to the old man in front of him, "Kongou-sama…" no answer, "Kongou…" still no reply; Kakashi was getting annoyed now.

"Kongou!" he raised his voice a tad.

The old man looked up when he was in the middle of the good part, "yes…" he wondered with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi sighed and rolled his lone visible eye to Sakura, who only shrugged, "thank you for letting us stay here on you expense, we're both very grateful for that," the silver haired Jounin smiled softly at the elderly man.

"No need to thank me kid, just as long as you had a good time at the festival last night," Kongou replied, winking at the tall man before him and glanced at the pink haired medic.

He leaned closer to Kakashi and whispered, "did she enjoy herself last night?" he gave the Jounin a nudge. Kakashi gave a quick glance at the medic on his left and smiled, "yeah, she had a good time at the festival," that was all Kongou wanted to hear, and with that he grinned like an idiot and sat back down.

"Well go on now, I'm sure you have other places to go, and be sure to come visit again some time, okay?" Kongou waved them off.

"Don't worry Kongou-sama, we will," the silver haired man waved back and the two left the motel.

The two Jounins took in the fresh morning air and sighed in bliss, "ready to go home?" Sakura asked cheerfully. Kakashi sighed again, and looked around his surroundings, "yeah, lets go," he mused, smiling sweetly at the medic and ruffled her pink hair.

Sakura pouted and started ruffling Kakashi's hair, "I…hate it…when…you…do that!" Sakura spat, trying to both remove the Jounin's mask and mess up his hair by digging her fist along his scalp.

Kakashi whined irritatingly but managed to pull Sakura from him without getting another thrashing of a fist on the top of his head. He held Sakura tight and laughter filled the air and their lungs. Sakura was held up high so that she wasn't able to touch the ground with her feet and wasn't able to move at all except for her head and arms, but she wasn't really struggling to get out of his bear hug.

Kakashi stared at the medic with a grin on his masked face. Sakura rest her elbows on the man's shoulders and leaned closer to him for a kiss. Smoothly, Kakashi slipped his mask down without somehow breaking the kiss and slid her down onto the ground.

He returned the kiss ardently and pulled up his mask swiftly so that the people around him couldn't see his face. He grinned and took Sakura's hand and lead her out of the village, avoiding the attention from the villagers after their little fun outside the motel.

"Do you think Kongou-san saw what we did just then?" Sakura asked, slightly worried at how that old man would react the next time they would meet.

Kakashi shrugged, "I wouldn't be too bothered if he saw us messing about like that; I'd say he would probably forget after a while and think it must've been a dream or something," he looked thoughtful under that cheeky grin of his.

Sakura groaned at that, "if he remembers, then he'll never live that down," she pouted disappointingly and slouched.

Kakashi squeezed the medic's hand within his and smirked, "that's _if _he saw it, so relax, and I don't think we'll be able to see him any time soon so don't you worry," that reassured Sakura a little and she sighed at that, smiling happily again.

They were quick at their return home, knowing that they were suppose to be at home the next day, but knowing it would take at least three days minimum, if not five. Sakura was looking at all the wildlife and beauty around her, not to mention the happy Jounin next to her, who wasn't reading his book for some odd reason.

"How come you aren't reading your smut?" Sakura asked cheekily, scratching Kitsune's ear a little.

Kakashi gave her a confused look and raised a brow, "why would I read porn if we just got together?" he asked instead, hoping Sakura would understand what he was talking about.

Sakura nodded her head, "right…" she mused, rubbing the back of her head lightly and walked on.

"Besides, what's the point in reading these books when I have you to look at," Kakashi stared teasingly at her while grinning like an idiot. Sakura blushed a deep shade of crimson but took it as a compliment, "true," she replied cockily and crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her tongue.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and pulled his mask down and stuck out his tongue too. The pink haired medic giggled; she found it cute the way the Copy Nin decided to show himself a little more since the night before, or basically since the beginning of the mission.

"You look really cute when you do that," Sakura commented sweetly, watching the man's reaction.

Kakashi smiled with a small chuckle, "I was just about to say the same about you," he replied simply in his monotonous voice, yet with a slight twinkle in his tone.

He approached the pink haired medic calmly and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before walking on, "come on, lets get going," he reminded, slipping his mask back into place and stuffing his hands comfortably in his pockets. Sakura shrugged and soon caught up to him.

An hour of walking and Sakura was starting to feel as though there was something or someone screaming painfully loud in her head; she froze on her path. This obviously didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi, who was only a few paces ahead of her and he could sense her chakra signal change rapidly.

"Sakura-chan? Are you alright?" he asked ominously as he walked over to her.

Sakura's breathing became short and hitched when she was looking around as if the two were surrounded by something only she was able to see at the time. She bit her lower lip and shook her head, leaning forward so that her forehead was pressed against the Jounin's chest. Sakura fought back the fresh wave of tears welling up in the back of her eyes and felt Kakashi's arms hold her for comfort.

"Come on, we're almost out of here," he whispered, taking the sight of his surroundings suspiciously as he picked the medic up.

As soon as Sakura was lifted off the ground, she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck with her head buried in the side of his neck. Whatever Sakura was freaking out about, she didn't want to see it, and Kakashi perfectly understood that matter and started walking on.

He felt Sakura tremble against him, making him worry all the more, '_Sakura-chan__…_' he frowned, at the near sobbing medic in his arms and kind of wished the Kunoichi could loosen her death grip around his waist and neck so that he could breathe a little better.

His questions were soon answered when he came across the sight of blood; of course it had been raining, washing most of it away, but there was the faint smell of blood in the air, and Kakashi could see how the land had been damaged and the ground was thrashed about like a minefield.

'_The battle we had here the other day__…_' it was becoming clear to what was going on and why Sakura was so scared.

Kakashi didn't bother wanting to check how things cleared up further ahead on the track; knowing full well what and _who _lay ahead. They should've done something about it sooner if they knew they were coming back here.

He sighed, glancing down at the pink haired medic, who wasn't really shaking as much as she was before, nor was she sobbing either, '_looks like she__'__s calmed down now_,' he said inwardly, ready to sigh when he heard a particular black fox hiss and growl.

"Kuro…?" he wondered, looking ahead to find the black fox stare straight at him, blocking his path.

Kakashi didn't know what was going on, but he knew Kuro had a pretty big idea on what was ahead of them and did this for Sakura's sake. Another little growl, and Kakashi was drawn to Kitsune, who was motioning her head to the trees next to the path.

The silver haired Jounin narrowed his eye back at the road ahead, where the scars of a battle lay to shock both Jounins out of their wits at the cause of the event.

Kakashi shook his head, ridding himself from the rewinding images of the fight three days ago, and followed the brown fox into the trees and away from the memories.

They skipped off into the trees with Kitsune leading the way. Kakashi glanced around the area as he jumped to the next tree and the next before catching the sight of something he had wished to avoid.

There, beyond the trees and on the ground in his bare-chested state, was the suppose-to-be motionless body of the last remaining Uchiha heir, but the only problem was…

'_He__'__s not there__…__!_' he almost inwardly cursed himself for not dealing with the body after the event.

Sakura clenched her fists around the back of the Copy Nin's shirt and held her breath, "he's not there…is he?" she asked quietly as if the dead could hear her. Kakashi remained silent as he stared at the pool of blood and damage of the fight.

Sakura's grip loosened slowly and she slid down on the same branch as Kakashi's, facing him directly before looking over her shoulder where Sasuke was supposed to be lying, "I think he's still alive, but I was sure I hit a vital organ," the uncertainty was getting heavier in the medic's voice.

The medic took a deep breath and gazed up at Kakashi, who only stared at the washed blood of the battlefield, thinking of a way to deal with the situation. He heard Kuro growl next to him, glaring at the mess.

"Kuro and Kitsune seem to know what's going on; we'd better take a look," Kakashi advised, taking Sakura's hand and guiding her slowly down the trees and onto hard ground.

Sakura wasn't really acting herself since she noticed this; she was acting like a little girl, the one that Ino tried so hard to push spirits up, and the one who was known to be quite scary in her work as a medic when the patients wouldn't cooperate. This was understandable for Kakashi, knowing Sakura was pretty afraid of Sasuke now that he was constantly haunting her in her nightmares.

"Come on," the Jounin tugged at Sakura's wrist a little and pulled her along.

Sakura stayed behind him the whole way and by the time they reached where Sasuke was supposed to be lying dead, Sakura had managed to calm herself down again and stand strong.

At the scene, Sakura constantly glanced around in case someone was about to attack. Even the slightest of unfamiliar movements or actions would set the medic in her fighting stance and attack. Kakashi examined the blood and noticed something that Sakura had mentioned before, "his body's been moved; and it looked like Sasuke did it on his own accord," he said, standing up and letting his hands drop to his sides.

Sakura looked thoughtful, "what could've happened to him to make him move?" she didn't expect answers at this point and followed the trail of blood leading into the bushes and past the trees.

Kakashi followed in suite, making sure Kuro and Kitsune were with them as well. The trail went on for a while until they walked past the trees into a clearing, where the two foxes began growling and trying to make themselves look more intimidating, but it wasn't really necessary.

There, lay the quivering and near dead body of Sasuke, who appeared to be…crying? Sakura felt her heart pound hard in her chest and tried to calm herself down but something was preventing her from doing so.

Kakashi approached the Uchiha slowly, not letting his guard down, "he meant more to me than you thought…" he croaked, his breathing husky and short. Kakashi stopped after hearing the boy speak.

Sasuke didn't even look at his old team standing behind him and stared at the pile of ashes that lay there under the tree. Kuro's blue eyes widened and crept closer to the raven haired Uchiha.

Another sob escaped his lips as he reached a hand to touch the pile of vestiges when the air around him became cold at an instant. Sasuke flinched when he felt Kuro's soft fur brush against his arm lightly as he stood before the remains of Aku.

"Sasuke…" Sakura tried, but was only spat back at with a low and tired "humph" from the Uchiha.

The silver haired Jounin neared his former student and sighed, "you inflicted this upon yourself if you really wanted to know…" he trailed off, hoping Sasuke wouldn't turn on him, but he was confident enough to stand his ground because the heir was so wounded and worn out that he wouldn't have the strength to attack him.

Sasuke sighed in defeat, "I guess that is true…" he inhaled deeply as if he would die any second, "at least allow me to fix my mistakes…" he raised his gaze to the medic and nodded his head.

"I am sorry Sakura, I wish you wouldn't have to go through all this under my expenses, so that is why I end my life here," eyes widened around the raven haired boy. Was he really going to end his life here and now?

Sakura didn't know what to think anymore, and Kakashi…he didn't think much at all at this point; he was just staring at his male former student with no emotions expressed at all, "Sasuke…I…I'm sorry you have to go through this, but that doesn't mean you have to take your own life because of it," Sakura interjected, making Kakashi wince at the comment for some reason.

His random reaction to her words didn't go unnoticed by the medic, and was contemplating over why Kakashi flinched in the first place. She reminded herself to ask later on when there wasn't a dying teammate lying on the ground before her.

Sasuke looked lost now. He glared weakly at the pink haired Kunoichi and sighed, but before he could say anything, Sakura beat him to his words, "you can come back to the village with us and redeem yourself for what you-" Sasuke raised his voice, "I can't redeem myself Sakura!" he paused and placed his hand over the stab wound that Sakura found quite familiar.

"They will kill me anyway if they knew I came back, even if you stopped them; they will never trust me again. That's why I choose to kill myself; for the village's sake as well as my own,"

Sakura's glare softened; she knew it was hopeless now that Sasuke wasn't willing to take any positive action to the situation. He slouched as he returned his gaze to the remains of Aku and grimaced, "I'd rather die now than face all of Konoha despising me…" he muttered, trying to sit more comfortably on the grass without taking his sight off the pile of ashes.

Kakashi sighed longingly and glanced at the medic, who was worrying about the one she used to have feelings for. He was deep in thought about what Sakura had mentioned only minutes ago, reminding him of something rather dark in his life, '_no__…__not now__…_' he told himself, battling out the reminiscence of his past and tried to force it back in his memories from whence it came.

"Kill me…" came the deep voice of the Uchiha, staring at Sakura feebly.

Sakura's green orbs widened at his uttered words and held her breath, "what…?" she asked herself. Sasuke grunted lowly at himself, "kill me now, and end everything; your pain, my pain, the struggle to wish everything back the way they were," he declared, appointing the medic to make the decisions now.

She kneeled beside her former teammate and held back the tears that were longing to escape her eyes, "Sasuke…I can't kill you…I-" again Sakura was cut off by the raven haired boy, "I can't fix all the damage I've done, so at least allow me to die so that I will forever prevent these things from happening again," he motioned for Sakura to kill him, but the medic almost refused to do so.

She hugged him close, hearing the cringes from the Uchiha from the pain in all his aching muscles and injuries, "I'm sorry Sasuke," she paused, slowly pulling out a kunai that was stashed away in the front pocket of her backpack and held it ready.

"I wish there was some way I could help you," she continued in whisper, tightening her embrace.

Sasuke smirked softly, "don't worry Sakura-chan…you will…" with that said above all his objections, he smiled contently at the medic in his arms and held Sakura's kunai in her hand as well as in his and drove it into his chest, puncturing his heart and causing internal bleeding within seconds.

Sakura's eyes widened at the feel of fresh blood smothering her hands and dripping off the steel blade of her weapon. Sasuke stared softly at the medic who was embracing him so carefully and watched as his vision turned to a blur and faded into blackness.

The medic saw his eyes go blank and his heart stop through the stuttering beats of pain and agony; she relinquished the anguish in her heart and allowed all her emotions to almost explode on impact. With tears rolling down her eyes, she gazed at the forever motionless Uchiha in her arms, who was being watched over by a silent Copy Nin.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan," Kakashi started calmly, placing a hand on the medic's shoulder.

Sakura's shoulders shook up and down as she whimpered with the heir in her arms, dead with the ashes of his fox guardian.

"I could have done something,"

"You did,"

"How is this helping? I killed Sasuke all for this?"

"He wanted this,"

"But it's not what I wanted,"

The tears in the medic's eyes were so hard to avoid. Kakashi kneeled down beside his former student and pulled her back, making her lay the Uchiha on the grass and allow herself to be held by the man she loved.

Kakashi rest his chin on the top of Sakura's head, closing his eyes and thinking deeply to solve the quandary, "we'll get through this Sakura-chan, don't worry," he whispered softly, kissing the top of her head and taking in the fresh scent of her pink hair with a sigh along with the fresh scent of Sasuke's blood stinging in his nostrils.

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**Author's notes:** HA! You all thought dear Sasuke-kun was already dead didn't you, but I just had to let him live and die in a more of a way that he wanted it to end rather than get stabbed in the chest during battle and die on the spot under the blanket of rain..._boring_. So yeah, Sakura did practically kill Sasuke after all (poor girl), and Kakashi basically stands there in the sidelines in hopes of someone to throw him something to do, so I'm trying to find our famous Copy Nin an interesting part to play in the next chapter, but have yet to discover it. If you have any ideas, now is the time to shout them out before I finish the chapter and then, **_zoom!_** I'm done altogether. I hope you liked this chapter, because I certainly did; especially the bit with Kongou and the lovey-dovey scene with Sakura and Kakashi outside the motel. Anyways, I'll update real soon, so reviews please, and I'll see ya later ;D.


	31. Chapter 31: For Those We Loved

**Author's notes:** Chapter Thirty One, so close, so far, and I'm loving every minute of this. At the moment I'm listening to the Naruto Soundtrack, giving me my preferred mood while I write and it really helps. I'm working on Chapter Thirty Two at the moment and well...lets just say it's really good on my perspective :P. I guess there's not much else to talk about, so hope you enjoy this chapter and see you on the other end XD.

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CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: FOR THOSE WE LOVED

It was past midday and there were often a few breaks here and there, to have something to eat and rest up. It was now day sixteen of their mission and Kakashi was sure they would make it home today.

The surroundings were starting to look familiar to the nostalgic eye, "almost home," Kakashi sighed in bliss, drooping his arm around the medic's shoulder and grinned like and idiot.

Sakura was still a little taken aback from the event two days prior, but she had to move on; this mission was for her and Kakashi to have fun and enjoy themselves, not make things worse by mourning over someone else now. She shrugged it off for now, but then she remembered the little question that had her thinking for those two days.

"Kakashi," she came quietly, glancing upward to the Copy Nin beside her.

"Hm?"

"When I mentioned those words about taking your own life because of a crisis," Sakura trailed off, thinking back on that tragic event, "why did you react so strangely to my words?"

Kakashi sighed, "I had a feeling it would come down to this," he said to no one in particular and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. He took the moment of silence to think back on when it first happened.

He finally said, "I knew someone who took his own life because of something that cost the village dearly and couldn't handle the sadness he inflicted upon both himself and the team he saved," Sakura took this time to stay quiet and listen to the story Kakashi was sure to tell.

"He was my father, Hatake Sakumo. He was an extraordinary Shinobi who surpassed the fame of the Legendary Sannin until that fateful day," Kakashi cleared his throat and went on, "my father was assigned on a special mission, where he had to retrieve valuable information about the conflict between our village and the Hidden Rock, but upon reaching his destination, his team was ambushed and he was left with a life or death decision of leading on with the mission or saving the lives of his comrades,"

Sakura just stared and listened intently to the silver haired Jounin as he talked about the most private areas of his past, "Father, being the courageous one, went back and saved his teammates from the enemy, but failed to complete the mission, thus he was shut down by village because of their loss and soon even the ones he had saved despised him,"

"Soon, he became physically and mentally weak; having breakdowns against me as a child and soon lead to depression, which soon lead to…" Kakashi hesitated for a moment but continued with a strong voice, "one day I came home and found my father had killed himself because of the turmoil between himself and the village and all those he loved,"

Sakura gasped. How could Kakashi live through something like that in his life? Kakashi must've been some kind of legend to have been able to cope with the loss of loved ones, "I'm sorry," she muttered in total regret but was immediately stopped when Kakashi grabbed her arm and halted in his steps.

"Don't be sorry Sakura-chan, it wasn't your fault, nor was it my own; it was just something that happens in life that we all have to just live through," he smiled sweetly and planted a soft kiss on the medic's forehead.

Had he read Sakura's mind? Had he known Sakura would conclude with this? Either way, the medic just sighed and walked on, hoping he hadn't offended Kakashi in any way.

The Copy Nin glanced, "and don't be offended; my father was a great man and I respected that," he smiled again, wrapping his arm around the medic's waist.

He did it again.

Sakura was starting to think Kakashi could read minds; that only left one question remaining in Kakashi's personal existence, "the reason I wear this mask was to hide my existence as being a Hatake, so I could hide the shame my father put upon the clan, but I got over it after a long while and got used to wearing it," he exclaimed firmly. Sakura was astonished that Kakashi had managed to reassure her by reading her mind, or it was just sheer luck. Was Sakura _that _obvious?

It was quiet from then on, but before Kakashi and Sakura were able to yip around in joy when finally reaching Konoha grounds, they were sensing an unfamiliar presence in the vicinity.

Kitsune growled at the medic's side, looking around the place to pinpoint the exact location of the unwelcoming visitor.

"Okay…you can come out now; we know you're there," Kakashi sighed. He was so not in the mood for this.

The figure emerged from the trees ahead and blocked the road with his ragged appearance, "that's a nice young lady you have with you, now hand her over or you lose your life," he said simply; his voice husky and desperate.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "I don't think so. You see, she's with me, and if anyone dares to touch her, they die," he retorted in his calm and casual voice, letting Sakura go and getting ready to deal with this _pest_.

The man before them roared in laughter. His appearance wasn't much to look at; he wore standard civilian attire, dirty and stained and was carrying a long lance with a sharpened blade at the end. He didn't seem much of a threat at all to Kakashi; just something annoying that was in his way.

"Die!" the man hurled himself at the Copy Nin in hopes of doing damage, but both Jounins vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Surprised at Sakura's quick escape, the man looked around in search of his prize as well as the man he wished to kill, "looking for me?" Kakashi called from behind, standing casually with both hands in his pocket while giving the man an uninterested glance.

The man was annoyed at Kakashi now, but before he could roar at him and charge with his weapon, he was clothes-lined by Sakura's rather powerful arms and was flat on his back within split seconds.

She smiled triumphantly at the man, who appeared to be quite shaken up from the blow and kicked him hard in the side, "that's what you get for messing with a Jounin medic," she spat evilly and turned on her heel towards Kakashi.

"Nice work," Kakashi commented, amused with the moment as he tied up the bandit to a tree and started walking off with the medic latched around his arm.

"I'm not a Jounin for nothing you know," Sakura replied firmly and crossed her arms with a huff.

Kakashi chuckled, "I know, I just haven't been able to see you make such short work of a man like that," he said casually, threading his hand through his silver locks. Sakura snorted back a laugh, "I could've done it quicker, seen the fact that we're in a slight hurry, but knowing you, you wanted to have a little fun with him," she replied coyly and smirked.

The silver haired Jounin nudged Sakura at that and chuckled again, before pulling the medic to him for a walking hug as they neared the village.

There it was, the moment Sakura and Kakashi were waiting for; the first sight of the village gate, just over the hill they were travelling over. Excitement lit in the Kunoichi's eyes as she picked up the pace, "come on Kakashi, there it is, home sweet home," she hoorayed as she skipped ahead of the Jounin.

Smiles spread across their faces as they finally crossed the village gate in record time (almost). Sakura sighed and took in the Konoha air in a _deep _breath and sighed even deeper.

"Welcome home," Kakashi muttered past Sakura as he gave her a quick wink.

Sakura felt Kitsune purr like mad on her shoulder and urged her to catch up to Kakashi and see Tsunade and everyone else in the village. The medic grabbed the Jounin's hand and smiled sweetly at him. Surprisingly Kakashi didn't rip his hand from the medic's grip, knowing he had a reputation to hold but wasn't bothered by it at all; it only made Sakura just that little bit happier.

The Hokage tower was in sight and Kakashi gave Sakura's and a squeeze before entering the massive building. They climbed the several flights of stairs until they met the oh so familiar door that was the Hokage's.

With a brief sigh and not a moment of hesitation, Kakashi knocked on the door, "come in," muttered the voice from inside and Kakashi opened the door, pulling the medic along inside so he could shut the door.

The two travelling Jounins were welcomed with a desk full of paperwork and scrolls, and no doubt Tsunade was in there somewhere, because she was no where to be seen at the time until she lifted her head.

"You're back," she smiled, only able to see the top halves of the elite Copy Nin and her apprentice.

"I take the mission was a success?" she asked, standing up to greet her Shinobi properly, but was welcomed with something quite unexpected. She realised quite obviously that Sakura and Kakashi were…holding hands?

Her shocked gaze wasn't taken unnoticed by the two Jounins, who only exchanged glances and shrugged at her reaction, hoping she wouldn't take it harshly. Kakashi shook his head and took the opportunity to answer her question.

"Yes, it went very well," he answered with a hidden smile.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow; she wasn't all that convinced, "I expect you to have a full mission report by tomorrow morning, so don't be late; I have a lot of papers to work on," she gestured to her table, which seemed to be suffering a mass amount of weight by the scrolls and papers to prove her point.

Kakashi nodded his head and chuckled. Sakura and Kakashi bowed in unison to their respected leader and headed for the door when the busty woman called out, "wait here Kakashi, I need to have a word with you," the Copy Nin was no more than surprised that she didn't lash out at him for displaying such affection toward her apprentice (only holding hands though).

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied curtly and nodded to Sakura to go on ahead.

With a brief look of worry, Sakura nodded in return and shut the door behind her and was finally out of earshot.

"What do you think you are doing with Sakura?" Tsunade asked straightforwardly and sat down on her chair.

Kakashi gulped but remained calm, "Sakura and I recently developed feelings for each other…" he braced himself for a beating from the blonde woman, but none came.

Tsunade just stared at him, even though it was completely wrong that Kakashi was in love with his former student, she just stared and contemplated deeply for the moment.

"Do you have any idea how morally wrong this is between you and Sakura?" yes it sounded a little harsh coming from Tsunade, but she was right, but Kakashi didn't care.

He stared straight, no emotions passing through the conversation, "yes I do," he announced firmly.

Another minute or two of silence.

The honey-eyes woman sighed and peered her gaze over her mountain of papers to gaze at the Copy Nin and asked, "Kakashi, do you love this woman?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied without a second's hesitation.

"Do you realise the consequences of being with your student?" she pressed on.

"Yes," Kakashi said, again without a motion of hesitation, nor any physical proof of his nervousness.

Tsunade had to think deep about this now and sighed again, closing her eyes to ponder. Kakashi was in thought of what she was dealing with right now, and only wished it was something positive on his side of the matter.

The busty woman came to another round of questions that needed answering, "when did this start?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the silver haired Jounin.

Kakashi thought a minute, when _did _this whole thing start? "during the two-week mission," he guessed, though he was pretty close to the real deal. Tsunade wasn't at all surprised, "and I suppose that you know that having a relationship could cost you your life?" she thought up, eyeing the Copy Nin carefully in case there was a sign of weakness in his stance.

"Yes I know, but I don't care about that," Kakashi proceeded, "I wish for Sakura to be happy, and she chose me to be the one to care for her in the same way,"

"Does she love you back?" Tsunade asked, having a vague idea that her question didn't need answering.

Kakashi sighed; he was getting frustrated with the whole thing and didn't want to talk about it at all, "yes," he replied simply, hoping the blonde Hokage would understand the meaning of love in the ninja world.

Tsunade was at a dead end now; where to next? She looked around the room as if there was someone guiding her with enquiries and make Kakashi more agitated. She sighed again and rest her head on her hand in near defeat.

"Did you have sex with her?" as outrageous as it sounded, Tsunade just had to ask the question.

Kakashi stood uneasy while feeling Tsunade's gaze on him sharply like a needle stabbing him a few times, "yes I did," came the honest response from the Copy Nin. Tsunade smirked at the man as if he was a laughing matter and just nodded her head, and sighed again.

There was a moment of silence between the two Shinobi. Tsunade was wondering whether or not they should be together after this. Would the village accept, or will they exchange glances and look down upon the greatest ninja in the village. One thing that Tsunade personally feared was people shouting out at the pair, from things like, "aww cute," to something like, "paedophile!" or "pervert!" while most would probably refer to Kakashi by comparing him to his habit of reading porn in public and being late for the majority of meetings and training sessions.

"You're dismissed," she waved her hand at the Jounin and forced her attention to her paperwork.

Kakashi stood there for a moment before bowing respectfully and exiting the room without further words or questions to bother the Hokage.

The silver haired man sighed frustratingly as he thread his hand through his silver mane, rubbing the back of his neck along the way to the exit of the building. Once outside, Sakura sat there and waited for him. She turned around to face him and smiled sweetly at him and got up on her feet.

"So what did Tsunade-shisou want?" she asked innocently while hugging the taller Jounin.

Kakashi sighed with unease and gave the medic an uncertain look, "she asked about…us," he said quite calmly.

Sakura held her breath, "she's not going to split us up is she?" she wondered, starting to freak out about this. Kakashi frowned deeply, stroking the medic's cheek, "I hope not, though I explained to her our relationship, she didn't say whether or not she would accept us," he sighed, holding the medic close.

"Come on then," Sakura advised, "while she thinks this over, lets at least enjoy what we can if she does split us up," even though the situation was hard to deal with at this point, Sakura tried to live through it and do whatever to pass the time.

Kuro and Kitsune meowed in agreement and purred happily while brushing their tails against their masters' legs to get their attention. Kakashi smiled lightly, "okay then," he admitted defeat and followed the medic into the village, leading to her apartment.

Sakura hadn't been to her apartment since before the mission and it was great to be back after two weeks. She enjoyed the mission, but she needed her own familiarities to suit her needs. Once inside, Kakashi followed her inside and placed his backpack down by the door for the meantime and watched as Sakura ploughed herself on the couch with a loud huff and groaned happily.

"Home sweet home," she sighed in utter bliss as she inhaled deeply.

Kakashi chuckled and stood there for a second longer. He had only just realised that he had never been to Sakura's apartment before, due to the recent moving of the Hokage's apprentice so she'd be a little closer to the hospital and sleep in longer if she really wanted to.

Sakura lifted her head and gazed up at the older Jounin, "you didn't have to follow me all the way here; you can go to your apartment if you really want to," she said to him, stretching out her tired arms and sitting up.

"I think I might stick around with you for a while so I can kill some time and spend time with you," he smiled dearly at the medic.

Sakura looked thoughtful and smiled back and got up, "okay then, lets go outside and get some fresh air," she suggested, approaching the older Jounin with a sly grin on her face and ran a finger from Kakashi's neck to his chest.

Kakashi snaked his arms around her waist and grinned mischievously as he planted a masked kiss on her lips, "lets go then," he whispered with a grin and let the medic from his embrace and followed her out the door while leaving his bag behind.

The two walked casually through the streets of Konoha, waving at a few familiar faces that passed them, "ah, my Eternal Rival has finally returned," a booming voice announced as if it were to attract more attention. Kakashi cringed at the sound of the man's voice and sighed in annoyance.

There, before the two elites stood a bold man clad in green spandex, bearing a cheesy smile with the thumbs up high. Whenever Sakura saw this man, it made her shudder at the sheer appearance and blush at his show of embarrassment.

"Yo…" Kakashi greeted lamely, rolling his eyes in pure disinterest.

Maito Gai burst into tears, "why do you have to be so cool, my rival; you would be even cooler if you were to try on one of my outfits," he began brashly, pointing an accusing finger at the silver haired man.

Kakashi sighed again and shook his head, "sorry Gai-kun, but Sakura-chan and I are a little busy, so if you'll excuse us-" "but Kakashi, you said you would spar with me while wearing one of my infamous 'Gai suits' as you had promised," Gai interjected with tears constantly flowing from his dark eyes like a waterfall.

Sighing deeply once more, Kakashi knew defeat was nigh and slouched, "okay fine," he grunted, to be welcomed with a massive bear hug from the man in green clad, "thank you my Eternal Rival, we shall meet at the training grounds at once!" he declared triumphantly.

He dashed off quickly and reappeared behind the silver haired Jounin with a green spandex suit like his own and held it up, "you said you'd do it after the mission," he edged in a singsong voice, grinning like an idiot and waving the green outfit in front of Kakashi's face.

The Copy Nin grunted, sending the other Jounin a death glare, telling him that he would so make him pay after the sparring session. He almost growled in defeat and snatched the spandex from Gai's clutches and strolled over to the nearest changing rooms.

Sakura found the entire thing rather amusing; watching Kakashi lose an argument with Gai and slumping off to the men's room to change into one of the other Jounin's green suits.

According to Rock Lee when Sakura last spoke to him, Lee told her that the spandex outfit would show off any visible muscle on the body and attract all sorts of attention; usually being the wrong kind of attention.

After five minutes Kakashi emerged from the men's room feeling like an idiot. Gai posed dramatically and announced, "let us go Kakashi," he dashed off ahead, leaving the silver haired Jounin to weep over his appearance. Sakura had to hold back the sudden will to laugh hysterically at the man; she just smirked widely while holding back a laugh.

"Shut up…" Kakashi deadpanned and walked after Gai in hopes of giving him a good beating in their sparring.

With a wide grin, Sakura followed the now green clad Kakashi to the third training area of the fields where Gai stood ready for action, showing off his pose with the thumbs up again. Sakura giggled, to only be glared at evilly by Kakashi, "don't laugh, you," he quipped while pouting greatly at the medic.

Although Sakura had sympathy for the Copy Nin, she couldn't help but laugh at his appearance; he looked so funny at the moment, "okay Gai, a quick spar then I'm outta here," Kakashi spat with a grunt, facing the other green clad Jounin across from him.

"Of course my Rival, whatever you wish," he bowed in respect and posed in his fighting stance.

Sakura made cosy under a nearby tree and watched the green spandex show with a constant grin on her face. Kakashi gave the medic a quick glance before charging at the other Jounin with the full intent of giving him a good thrashing. Gai easily dodged his attacks and came back with his Taijutsu moves. He swiftly twisted and turned his body and forced a few blows here and there.

Kakashi never felt his body move with such ease before in his life, unless he was dashing to the bathroom from his bed when he was nude, but that was something different; Kakashi felt…faster, and felt that he could easily beat up Gai without even having to break a sweat.

"Don't get too cocky Kakashi," Gai declared in his all but booming voice as he launched his leg at the other Jounin in hopes of inflicting more damage than before.

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**Author's notes:** Hahaha, I just _had_ to make Kakashi try out a Gai suit and have a good battle with our green spandex man XD. I couldn't help but laugh when the idea hit :P. So, will Tsunade let Kakashi and Sakura be together, or will she split them apart and break their hearts? Hope you liked this chapter as much as I did, now reviews please .


	32. Chapter 32: Something New To See

**Author's notes**: Sorry I haven't been on for a while, I've been a little busy with school and what not. Now, we are reaching the end of this story, and very close; I believe one or two more chapters after this and it'll be all over :S. BUT, I love this story, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who does . So yeah, this is Chapter Thirty Two, the title says it all, so enjoy and see ya on the other end ;D.

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CHAPTER THIRTY TWO: SOMETHING NEW TO SEE

Sakura stared at the two Jounins as they moved about in their spandex. He felt Kuro and Kitsune purr on either side and smiled at them, '_they are so cute_,' she inwardly said and returned her gaze at Kakashi, who was hit in the gut for the second time already and was sent backwards.

Kakashi back flipped out of the way and landed staring at Gai while he made the preparations to attack again, '_time to get serious_,' he revealed his Sharingan, even though it wouldn't make much use because Taijutsu meant only hand-to-hand combat and no thinking was really involved, so Kakashi didn't always find it useful.

But having said that, Kakashi still thought that using his Sharingan would up his spunk and get his mojo flowing. He instantly copied what Gai was about to do, but of course his body wasn't able to counter it in time and was sent in the air.

"This is getting too old Kakashi," Gai shouted as he appeared behind him in midair and grabbed his waist in preparation of a technique that would most likely knock out the Copy Nin for a while.

Kakashi smirked, "you're getting too old Gai," he spat back sarcastically and vanished, reappearing behind Gai and pushing him off with his hands. As quickly as he could, Kakashi made haste and used as much strength that he could muster and threw the green clad Jounin toward the ground.

The momentum forced Gai off guard and hit the ground in a loud crash. A little dazed, Gai got up slowly, and raised his hand, "nice one Kakashi, we'll stop here," he surrendered in honour, knowing Kakashi would've probably gone off at him again if they went on any longer.

Kakashi stood straight, lowering his guard for now and slumped forward a little, "thanks for the spar Gai-kun," he waved a hand and smiled at the other Jounin.

"Until we meet again, my Eternal Rival," Gai announced, showing off his almighty pose again before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The Copy Nin rolled his eyes, '_I take it I get to keep the suit__…__oh well_,' he inwardly groaned, but was taken by surprise when Sakura glomped him. With raised eyebrows, the Copy Nin chuckled a bit as he held the medic close and nuzzled her with his nose.

"Lee-san was right; the muscles are shown in detail when you wear one of those," Sakura remarked to no one in particular and buried her face in the crook of Kakashi's neck.

Kakashi chuckled again, the vibrating sound of his voice moving through Sakura while they held each other, "really?" he wondered, arching a brow and looking down at the Kunoichi, whose smile only widened, "yeah, Lee-san said that it attracts all sorts of attention," she teased, running her fingers through Kakashi's silver hair.

Kakashi hummed at that, "ooh, I think I know what sort of attention he was referring to," he replied with a wide grin and winked at her before kissing her through the mask and keeping her close as if she would fall if he let her go.

Sakura closed her eyes in the man's embrace before she was welcomed with an abrupt movement from the man holding her. She looked up, finding Kakashi holding the tiger sign with one hand and a cloud of smoke shrouded them and they appeared in front of the changing rooms where they met Gai earlier.

Without a word, Kakashi left Sakura for a minute or so and disappeared; most likely to change back into his normal attire. About five minutes and the Copy Nin showed up with a sigh and a grin, "alright lets get going," he mused, taking the medic's hand and moving off through the village.

They passed the Yamanaka flower shop and other stores until they were on the other side of Konoha, where not so many people were. On the way of course they were eyed for a bit by the village people when they noticed Kakashi holding Sakura's hand.

As they strolled through the village, they noticed now they managed to see a few new faces; not people, but in fact…foxes. Yes, there was an abundance of foxes around the village.

"Have you noticed how-"

"Foxes?"

"Yeah…"

"I've noticed."

Sakura glanced around and found Hinata smiling in joy with a fox in her arms, purring madly, "hey Hinata-san," Sakura whooped with a wave.

The timid Hyuuga looked up and smiled, "Sakura-san, Kakashi-san, it's so great to see you again," she smiled sweetly while trying to keep the fox under control in her arms.

"That's a cute fox you have there," Kakashi complimented with a small grin behind his mask.

Hinata blushed faintly, "why thank you," she replied, looking down at her fox, "her name is Kiiro; I found her shortly after hearing you two went out on your mission,"

"That's a beautiful name," said Sakura with a great smile of her pale face.

Suddenly, the Hyuuga was surprised when Kuro and Kitsune jumped up to see the newcomer and say hello, "sorry Hinata, Kuro and Kitsune are quite jumpy when meeting new people," Sakura said sincerely as she held the brown fox while Kakashi held the other.

Hinata nodded her head, "that's okay, Kiiro is quite the same at times," she said, petting the fox ever so softly.

Kiiro had the same cute expression as the other two foxes; she was completely white with orange bands going from head-to-tail and black socks like all foxes have. Her wild green eyes shone in the sunlight and her meow was high pitched. By the looks of things, it seemed as though Kuro and Kitsune knew the fox as if they've been friends since birth.

"Her name means yellow; don't ask why, but I think it's because she reminds me so much of Naruto-kun," Hinata bit back a sob and stood her ground bravely.

Sakura smiled sweetly at her and patted her shoulder, "Naruto would've loved that as a name," it sounded a little cheesy coming from Sakura, but it was all she could think of at the time of need.

Hinata smiled back in the same content way, "sorry, but I must go, Kiiro has been waiting to be fed for the past half hour, and I have to get her food quickly," she bowed quickly and walked off with a quick wave.

Kakashi peered around from Sakura at the young Hyuuga and made a small humming sound, "looks like she's made a little recovery of her own during our absence," he noticed plainly and drooped his arm around the medic's shoulders and guided her along to walk.

"So it seems," Sakura replied quietly, resting her head against Kakashi's shoulder and sighed deeply and tiredly.

Ah, good old Ichiraku's, for the last two weeks, Sakura was actually tempted to have some ramen from this place, but seen the fact that she was travelling from place to place on a daily basis for a fought night, she couldn't. There at a stool sat none other than Iruka, slouched over the bar with his bowl of ramen.

Sakura dragged Kakashi along and entered the stand, "hi Iruka-san," Sakura greeted cheerfully. The brown haired Chuunin whipped his head around was relieved to see his friends again, "ah, Sakura, Kakashi, it's great to see you again," he whooped with a quick wave and a smile.

Kakashi sat down next to Sakura, who was right next to Iruka and smiling away her joys before feeling something tug at her feet. It wasn't Kuro or Kitsune; they were sitting on their laps. Sakura glanced down at her feet to find a white figure having a nosey at her feet.

"Nose down Shiro," Iruka tapped the animal on his ears, who whined a little and lay back down.

How could Sakura and Kakashi have missed something so beautiful. It was a pure white fox, and as curious as he was, Shiro's eyes were as blue as the ocean. They gleamed when they made contact with Sakura's. She was captivated by the look in the fox's eyes, but soon returned to reality, where Iruka gazed at her with an arched eyebrow.

"Sorry, just didn't notice how beautiful that fox is," Sakura smiled and eyed the white fox as he stared back.

Iruka chuckled, "no worries, Shiro here is very curious to meet new people," he assured with a grin and returned his attention to his bowl of ramen.

Sakura noticed how Shiro was much bigger than Kitsune and Kuro, "so when did you find Shiro?" Kakashi asked, hunching over on the bar to see the Chuunin properly. Iruka scratched the bridge of his nose in thought and said, "it was that same afternoon when you left I think; he was just sitting there on the windowsill of the classroom during lunchbreak and I found him," he beamed, "and he wouldn't leave me alone so I decided to let him stay with me," the Chuunin patted the white fox at his feet, hearing his loud and steady purr.

Kakashi's eye crinkled up to a smile, and gave a quick glance at Sakura, who was yet again cuddling with Kitsune, "so how was the mission?" Iruka asked, changing the subject.

The two Jounins exchanged glances before they answered, "it was good," Sakura deadpanned, "yeah, quite interesting," Kakashi added with a sigh and cleared his throat.

"That's great to hear; nothing interesting has been happening here lately, besides Shiro showing up of course, but that's just my opinion," Iruka chuckled to himself and slurped up his ramen.

Sakura cocked her head and smiled sweetly at him, "that's nice to here, but we'd better go now; some of our friends haven't heard we returned yet," Sakura slid off her chair with Kitsune in her arms and exited the ramen stand, with Kakashi following right behind her.

"See ya," Iruka waved back with a wide grin, and Shiro just yawned loudly as his way of saying goodbye.

It was quite nice to know that no one had asked questions as to why Kakashi and Sakura are suddenly spending their whole time back together, but it was only day one back in Konoha, and anything was possible.

"Sakura-chan!" came a young voice from behind.

Sakura turned around to find a boy running to her with a smile and waving frantically; his sea blue scarf still present as well as his Konoha symbol shirt, "Konohamaru, so nice to see you," Sakura whooped, hugging the boy.

"I heard you got back from your mission and I was looking all over for you so I could talk to you about it," the short boy grinned sheepishly and was taken aback by the brown fox in the medic's arms, "wow, you have a fox too?" he yipped, staring at the cute fox, who was only staring back in puzzlement.

Sakura and Kakashi raised a brow, "you have a fox as well?" Kakashi stepped in the conversation. Konohamaru nodded his head and looked down at his feet, expecting his fox to be there, but was surprised to see nothing but the ground.

He started to get annoyed, "aargh, Kinpatsu! Not again," he stomped his foot on the ground and looked around for his fox, "sorry Sakura-san, he keeps running off when something new happens, and this time he's just doing it to annoy me," he scowled at the ground and sighed.

"I can see that," Kakashi mused, before getting a soft elbow nudge in his gut from the pink haired medic as a warning to zip it.

Kakashi scratched the back of his neck sheepishly with a chuckle and watched as young Sarutobi looked around frantically for his fox but calmed down with a cheesy grin, "I know where he is now," he reassured, leaning to one side and folding his arms over his chest.

The medic gave him a puzzled look before something furry brushed against her leg, making her jump. Checking her surroundings, both Kuro and Kitsune were in their masters' arms and couldn't have done anything like that unless they were on the ground.

With raised eyebrows, Kakashi watched as his black fox jumped down from his arms and onto the hard dusty ground. He stealthily sneaked his way playfully on the ground as if he was stalking something and then…_smack!_ Kuro landed on something and it was wriggling to get away.

"Kinpatsu, stop harassing the black fox," Konohamaru exclaimed and approached the black fox with a disappointed and annoyed look on his face.

Right before their eyes, the thing that Kuro was somehow wrestling with in midair revealed itself to unveil a grey fox with blue eyes. It was really cute, and somehow fast too.

Kinpatsu, the adorable silvery grey fox ended up in one second by Kuro's side to Konohamaru's shoulder with a mocking grin on his face. The black fox on the ground glared wide eyed at the grey fox and meowed oddly at him. Kinpatsu merely grinned at him and started purring.

Sakura and Kakashi exchanged glances and gave the young Sarutobi a confused stare, "what, I only figured out recently that Kinpatsu could turn invisible, and he's always pulling little jokes on me and a lot of people I talk to, just to get on their angry side," he exclaimed with a mild smirk on his face.

The two Jounins blinked, before Konohamaru gave them another surprised look, "it's not so cool as Iruka-sensei's fox; he can talk," at that both Jounins' eyes went wide and jaws hung agape, "really?" Sakura asked, hoping she heard the boy correctly the first time.

"Yeah, not only that, but Shiro-san is smart as too; he and Iruka-sensei came over while my team and I were training and he gave us a few tips," young Sarutobi nodded his head quickly and smiled.

"But we never heard a word coming from that fox; he was quiet the whole time," Sakura remembered, thinking back to when she was talking to the Chuunin back at Ichiraku's.

Konohamaru closed his eyes as if in thought and replied, "Shiro is pretty shy at times, but when he has something to say or is actually interested to chat, he can talk for a while," Sakura nodded her head in understanding and gave the Copy Nin a quick glance.

Sakura smiled back, "it's great to see you again Konohamaru," she said, changing the subject.

Konohamaru grinned sheepishly, "yeah you too, when I heard you were back I was on the hunt to find you, because it can get so boring here when you guys aren't here," he slouched with a sigh and placed a hand on the grey fox's head with a soft smile.

"Really?" Sakura said with slight sympathy and a raised eyebrow.

Young Sarutobi nodded in disappointment and gave the two Jounins a quizzical glance, "I haven't seen you two walking around together like this before; what's the occasion?" he gave them a devious grin and wriggled his eyebrows to get the point across.

The two older Shinobi rolled their eyes, "we just got back from a mission and we're just having a normal discussion," Kakashi explained smoothly, "now if you don't mind, Sakura and I need to catch up with a few other people before the end of the day," he managed to pull the pink haired medic along with his grip and away from Konohamaru.

"Okay…well see you around Konohamaru," Sakura waved him off and they disappeared around the next corner.

"Patient much?" she pouted toward the older Jounin.

Kakashi chuckled, "sorry, but I was telling the truth back there, I want to see a few other people before it gets late and everyone hits the bar to get pissed," he jerked a thumb to a particular Jounin wading his way to the bar already.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I guess Genma-kun is getting ready for the evening already; but it's only 5 pm so I guess he must be in a cranky mood and downs his stress in sake," she guessed, placing a finger suggestively on her chin.

Kakashi glanced at the senbon wielding man as he slumped depressingly to the bar where he wouldn't be seen for most likely the remainder of the night until the bars closed, which was around about at two in the morning.

"So it seems," he trailed off, staring thoughtfully at the medic and traced a finger on her cheek, finally catching her attention.

A smile graced her features as she let the Copy Nin do what he wished to her, but keeping him under control while under the public eye. She slung her arms around the Jounin's neck and kissed him softly on the lips, smiling softly as she pulled away from him. Kakashi ran his fingers along the medic's pink hair with a sly grin plastered on his masked face.

"Take it easy now Kakashi-sempai, you're in the public eye," warned a familiar voice.

Instantly Kakashi jerked his head to the sound of the man's voice and sighed in relief when he was sure he knew who it was. He let Sakura go, but stayed close as he eyes the two Jounins approaching them with smiles on their faces.

"Yamato-san, Sai-kun, it's great to see you," he greeted under an awkward grin and waved at the two.

The two other Jounins exchanged glances and back at the so-called lovebirds. They knew something would probably go on between the former student and teacher, but nothing this obvious, "I always knew you would go for the younger women Kakashi-sempai, but never this young," Yamato commented under a chuckle and glanced over to his right where Sai stood as clueless as ever when it came to a particular emotion.

Sakura and Kakashi bartered glances. Sure Yamato respected Kakashi more than anyone he ever knew in his life, but never expected him to be so cool about the Copy Nin being with Sakura, because…well…they were student and teacher.

Kakashi was about to reply to Yamato's little compliment when he caught the sight of a pair of fuzz balls trotting their way to the group. With a creased eyebrow, Kakashi watched as two foxes leapt up to sit on a shoulder - one being Sai and the other being Yamato.

"Are those your foxes?" Sakura asked before the Copy Nin could.

Yamato nodded curtly, "yeah, this is Chairo…" he pointed to the cute dark brown fox with white socks on his shoulder, "…and this is Kurimuson," he indicated to the jet-black fox with a blood-coloured crest on its forehead who sat purring madly on Sai's shoulder.

The dark brown fox known as Chairo glared shyly at the two strange people standing before her. She quivered nervously on the wood user's shoulder and tried to hide behind his head without falling off.

"Chairo, don't be scared, these are friends," Yamato encouraged the brown fox to lighten up a little and be tough.

Yamato sounded as though he was speaking to either a little child who hasn't seen daylight or people in a long time or a retarded person with very bad people skills.

Chairo whined a little under the two Jounins' gaze before finally being a little encouraged to check things out. she leaned forward fretfully, sniffing the air a little and made a cute face that made almost all four of them go off with an '_aww_,' all but Sai, who wasn't really paying attention to the brown fuzz ball.

"She is so cute," Sakura said with creased eyes as she reached over to pat the dark brown fox.

Chairo whined yet again and backed away and looked as though she was about to cry or something along those lines. Kakashi's brow furrowed as he gave a mildly interested chuckle, "so what's with all the foxes we've been seeing around the village today?" nonetheless the question had to be asked.

Yamato and Sai gave him a quick glance and put their foxes on the ground in unison as if an important conversation was about to start, "it seems as though everyone started to discover an abundance of foxes around Konoha since Naruto passed away," he gazed at his feet.

Sakura frowned a bit but brushed it off with a shrug and shook her head, "we kind of figured that out as we made our return stroll around the village and found about…five of our close friends with foxes on their shoulder," she mused, placing a finger thoughtfully on her chin and gazed up at the clearing sky.

All four Jounins stood in silence, though still hearing the playfulness coming from the four little foxes at their feet. Kakashi sighed deeply, breaking the silence on purpose so he could do something else besides standing around Konoha in hopes of finding someone alone to corner and say hi to, "well, as much as I enjoy seeing the two of you with smiles on your faces," Kakashi began, not oblivious to the fact that Yamato was inwardly disappointed when began; knowing what was going to come out next, "but Sakura-chan and I have to get going so we can catch up with the others in time before the sun sets,"

Of course Kakashi wasn't being completely truthful, but he just wanted to get away from everyone and have some more alone time with his Cherry Blossom. He grabbed Sakura's hand and started to pull her along, passing the other Jounins and making their way further down the street.

But before Sakura and Kakashi could leave, they were stopped by an abrupt jutsu, blocking their way. The wood moulded and sculpted to an accepted shape of a wall or gate.

Kakashi sighed, "okay Yamato, what do yo-" he was cut short of words when he turned around to find not Yamato creating the wooden wall, but in fact his dark brown fox, Chairo. She sat there on the ground, tail twitching and manipulating wood from within the ground.

"Oh yeah," Yamato started, as if he had forgotten all this time, "I must've forgotten to mention that Chairo here has the Mokuton ability like me," he grinned cheerily.

Chairo didn't say anything, but instead she just stared calmly at the black fox sitting on the Copy Nin's shoulder, "reowr…" she purred sweetly to Kuro, who gave an incredulous growl in return and rose an eyebrow.

Sakura giggled, to only receive an odd glare from the other three Jounins, "what's so funny, Sakura?" Kakashi mused, crossing his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to one leg.

Sakura contained her mirth and glanced from Kuro to Chairo every few seconds, "it seems Chairo has a little crush on Kuro," she said finally under a light giggle and gave Kakashi a thoughtful look with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky grin.

Sai gazed clueless at what was currently taking place and seemed to be thinking over a lot. Yamato grinned widely and gave a tired looking stare at the silver haired man before him, "well, well Kakashi-sempai, looks as though your fox is a bit of a player," he gave the man a quick nudge before he heard an unusual growl from at their feet.

There next to Sakura, sat a very upset Kitsune, eyeballing the emotional Chairo in hopes of sending a message to her saying 'back off, he's mine,' it seemed cute of course, but there were limits, and this was one of them.

Chairo pried her gaze off the black fox and glanced at the rather angry Kitsune, who growled a little lower, trying to set the record straight, "leave your prying eyes from Kuro," she hissed, before cheering up a little and trotting past the now stunned Chairo, sending her one last death glare.

To the Jounins above, all they heard from what Kitsune said was just a growl and a small hiss, which in obvious cases was something Kitsune was not so happy about and started complaining in some harsh way.

"It looks as though Kitsune has a bigger crush on Kuro," Sai managed to say under all his thoughts.

No one really paid much attention to him because of what was happening on the ground. Kitsune sauntered past the dark brown fox and approached the black fox, whose grey eyes spoke nothing but a blank image. He cocked his head to the side as he watched Kitsune walk up to him in a happy fashion.

The brown fox glanced back at Kuro, who didn't seem quite pleased with the idea of Kitsune conversing with other male foxes except for him alone. The air was thick with envy and jealousy.

"Hi," Kitsune greeted with a bright smile on her foxy face.

Kurimuson rose an eyebrow and said, "I believe you are the First Tail of the Kyuubi, no?" Kitsune bowed her head as a 'yes' and leaned closer to the jet-black fox, "and I take it you are the Ninth Tail?" another exchange of curt nods and the two foxes hit the conversation of how each found their master.

"Yeah, I found Sai-kun when he was alone making ink drawings in one of his scrolls to perfect a special jutsu he's been working on for a while now," Kurimuson looked up at Sai, who stared aimlessly at the ground where nothing in particular lay.

Kitsune arched a brow in slight surprise, "he's working on a jutsu? That sounds interesting," she squinted under a small smile.

Kuro watched as the two new friends began their conversation, mentally picturing Kurimuson hanging on from a noose while suffering in a blazing fire. He smiled at that, but that grin of his was soon stripped off his furry face when he saw Kitsune lick the black fox on the crimson coloured crest on his forehead.

He cringed when he also heard Sakura, Kakashi and Yamato go 'aww' for the couple.

He was jealous.

Of course his jealousy didn't go by unnoticed; Kakashi chuckled at his envy when he saw him quiver with the thoughts of destroying that black fox and was almost tempted to nudge his fox over with his foot, but let it pass with a sigh.

"We'd better go," mused the silver haired Jounin.

Kuro physically sighed in relief and leapt up on Kakashi's shoulder, watching Kitsune shake her head as if she was wet and flicking the water off. She gave Kurimuson a quick smile and returned to Sakura's side, where she awaited the next moment.

Yamato chuckled, patting the now rather silent Chairo sitting on his shoulder, "it was nice to be able to catch up after your mission," he commented sweetly with a smile, and gave Sai a hard nudge in his side with his elbow, making the emotionally-clueless Jounin pull a fake grin to show he was listening, or to make it seem like he was.

Kakashi glared at Chairo, hoping she wouldn't try to stop them this time and grinned beneath his mask and wrapped an arm around the medic's waist and pulling her close to him.

Pulling the tiger sign with one hand, the two Jounins and their fox companions disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Sai and Yamato on the streets of Konoha alone with their foxes.

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**Author's notes:** Did you pay close attention to how many foxes were around? Good, then I guess you also noticed what Kitsune had said to Kurimuson in their little chat, "and I take it you are the Ninth Tail?" HAHA! It's pretty easy to calculate: Nine foxes scattered around Konoha, each with their own personality and image, and each relates to Naruto and the Kyuubi. There are nine foxes in total (for obvious reasons), but there's one who hasn't made its appearance yet, can you tell me who has that fox? If you can then you are a damn legend :P. HINT: Kitsune, Kuro, Aku, Kiiro, Shiro, Kinpatsu, Chairo and Kurimuson. Where is the Fifth Tail? Have a go at it and see if you're right, and who knows, you may even get it better than the correct answer :P. So Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you'll keep reading. Just a little more and it's all over. I'll update a.s.a.p. Laters XD.


	33. Chapter 33: So Hard To Forget

**Author's notes:** NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! It's the last chapter sobs. This is unbelievable, this is the end of the story, OMG OMG OMG! :(. But alas, I can't do anything about it but let you hear the end of it. You guys guessed that the last fox belonged to Jiraiya, or Tsunade even, but you're wrong points and laughs, nah, kidding. Unfortunately it is neither of our Legendary Sannin, but you'll find out who our next fox is and who owns it :P. Hope you enjoy this final chapter. See ya on the other end .

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CHAPTER THIRTY THREE: SO HARD TO FORGET

"Can you believe it?" Sakura asked incredulously as she paced around her bedroom, arms folded and being watched by a bored Kitsune, who was lazily sitting on the medic's bed and yawned as her reply.

"Nine foxes…" she had said for the nth time in that hour.

Sakura had parted ways with Kakashi to recover, hoping to get some well deserved rest, but Sakura had other things on her mind and couldn't get herself to sleep, so she decided trying to discuss it with her fox would be easier than to not say a thing at all.

She flared around the room wearing her silky purple pyjama pants with a low-cut tank top with a cherry on it with _Yummy _written in fancy calligraphy under the fruit of her top. Tapping her chin in thought, Sakura was trying to figure out for the past hour and a half what all those foxes were meaning.

Then it hit her, "Naruto…" she muttered and stopped frozen in her steps, staring at the floor as if she had seen a ghost.

Kitsune nodded her head under a squeak of her meow and squinted again, "the foxes appearing all over Konoha must have some connection with Naruto and the Kyuubi," Sakura continued to no one in particular. Again Kitsune meowed in agreement; obviously she knew more than what Sakura had anticipated.

The pink haired medic sighed in hopelessness and plopped down onto the bed next to the brown fox, who was purring a little now. Glancing at the pile of mail on her bedside table, she noticed one in particular with a Sand symbol on it, "from Suna?" she mused, picking out the beige coloured letter from the others.

With a puzzled expression on her face, Sakura flipped open the tab of the envelope and pulled out the letter. It was obviously signed by the Kazekage by the noticeable insignia of the sand symbol with his signature on it.

Sakura began reading through the text of the letter:

_Dear Haruno Sakura,_

_I know this is late as I have anticipated but I never got around to writing this letter, seen is that I am the Kazekage. I am writing this letter to you personally because of the connection between you and these foxes that have been appearing…_

Sakura's eyes widened; how did Gaara know about the foxes? She continued reading.

…_After hearing of Naruto's death, I didn't know what to do at first, but I felt a ceremony was in order of his heroic deeds as a Shinobi. Everyone honoured your friend, but that wasn't all I wanted to say. Naruto left us something to remember him by, and a fox was to prove of that. A few days after Naruto's death, a fox showed up in my office in the late hours of the evening. Kankurou insisted on getting rid of the fox, but I refused to allow it when I discovered the powers he possessed._

_I named him Midori; and he spoke to me when his chakra turned to the colour of blood and the atmosphere around him had changed. He told me about the Nine Tails of the Kyuubi, and how each related to Naruto. All nine foxes were sent to a particular person that was close to Naruto and best related to their ability. I realised he knew his death was nigh._

_Midori has the ability of sand, and can do almost anything I do with the sand. His ability doesn't match to mine, but recent tests in combat have shown he grows bigger over experience in battle and learns quicker and adapts to his nature. I take it you know of this yourself, and if you don't…then now you know._

_Naruto was a hero and a great man. He never gave up and his heart was passed down through all of us. I pray you good luck in happiness and hope you shall never forget him._

_Sincerely, Kazekage, Gaara._

Sakura stared at the epistle a while longer, aimlessly rereading the words to let them sink in. Gaara referred Naruto as a man? Well…Sakura should have expected that from the Kage of Suna, but he was right. Naruto had become a man after several gruelling years together as teammates and friends.

A small smile graced her features and she was up on her feet in a heartbeat. Glancing down at Kitsune, who lay sleepily on the bed sheets, wanting to rest after a long day. Sakura tossed on a jacket and slipped into her ninja shoes and leapt out the window by her bed; not bothered to use the proper exit of her apartment.

From rooftop to rooftop, Sakura jumped to the next, watching the late night goers make their way home after a long night of drinking. She caught the glimpse of the familiar, tightening her grip on the letter from Gaara.

'_Hope I__'__m not too late,_' she thought to herself, as she stopped on the highest point of a building, gazing at the twilight below.

Hesitantly, Sakura approached the building down the street, avoiding the eye contact from the drunk people slowly making their way home. Once in front of his door, Sakura took a breath to knock on the door, but got a better idea.

She ditched the front door and jumped into the garden on her left, climbing the hedge next to the building until she reached her destination: the bedroom window. She gazed through the window; it was dark, but she could make out the outline of the Copy Nin, sleeping peacefully, or so she thought.

Frowning only for a split second, Sakura tapped on the window, "Kakashi…" she whispered through the glass, hoping he'd hear her. There was a muffled moan from the bed, before an arm came up and made a shooing motion with his hand, "…nother few mints and I'll…be…" damn, Sakura didn't try hard enough.

She tapped on the glass again, this time a little louder, "Kakashi, wake up, I need to talk to you about something," she didn't really care if Kakashi was awake or not, but she had to try something.

There was a sudden, "huh?" and a flinch of a leg and Kakashi's arm flailed again. Sakura rolled her eyes with a sigh, but was brought back to reality when a hand lazily tapped on the window next to his bed where the pink haired medic waited patiently.

The hand flipped the latch that kept the window locked and his arm dropped back down, "what now…?" he groaned as he sat up with a kunai in hand, thinking it might've been someone who would try and kill him.

He noticed the pink hair under the moonlit sky and lowered his guard, allowing Sakura to enter through his window. Once inside, Sakura sat down in front of him with a huff and remained silent. As if she would get into trouble, Sakura glanced around the room innocently and handed the Copy Nin the letter.

"What's this?" Kakashi asked, furrowing his eyebrows at the paper as he read it.

"It's a letter from Gaara-kun," Sakura stated blandly, watching the Copy Nin read over the letter a few more times.

Kakashi's eyes widened, "so there are nine foxes in total; all under the summoning of Naruto," he paused, leaning closer to the text as if it was too small to read, "and Gaara has the last one on our list?" Sakura nodded, watching Kakashi rub his face tiredly and slid down his mask to rub his chin more comfortably.

"So why didn't you just tell me this in the morning?" Kakashi groaned under a loud yawn and slouched again.

Sakura huffed incredulously, thinking how he could be so calm about all this. And not only that, but Sakura didn't know how to answer his question. Her gaze shifted around Kakashi's bedroom before locking it with the man's mismatched eyes, "because I read this only minutes ago and I had the vague idea that this was the best time to tell you," she finally said, though still unsure of her reply.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow, "so you decide to tell me this in the dark, at two in the morning? Great…oh well, at least now I know," he gave the medic a genuine smile before stroking her cheek; tracing her jaw line until he reached her lips.

Sakura smiled softly in return before looking uncertain once again. Kakashi frowned and placed his hand on the medic's shoulder, "listen, Naruto died knowing what was to come; it wasn't your fault or anyone's, this was all an accident that Naruto seemed to know about," he paused to sigh deeply and grinned, "the only thing Naruto could do to remember him by was to leave behind a fox for all those closest to him,"

The pink haired Kunoichi met the mismatched eyes of the Copy Nin and softened a little. She sighed in defeat, "I'm sorry…" she muttered and looked away in near disgrace.

An eyebrow rose, "don't be," the Copy Nin interjected before Sakura could say anything further, "you shouldn't blame yourself for these things…" he paused there, having nothing more to say. He tilted his head a little and leaned closer to the girl and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, letting his lips linger longer than necessary before pulling her close to him in his well toned arms.

He lay back with Sakura rested against him, sighing deeply and inhaling his scent. She relaxed herself in the man's arms, not caring that her tears had rolled down her cheeks and stained Kakashi's dark undershirt.

Kakashi rest his hand on the back of Sakura's head and hushed her into silence, "it's alright, stop crying already," he whispered almost harshly to the medic, but neither cared.

Sakura's crying turned to sobs and then there was silence between them; both holding onto one another like there was no tomorrow. Sakura gazed off to her left, her tears now dried and her body feeling rather limp. The Copy Nin quietly made circular motions with his fingers along the back of Sakura's neck, comforting her in his lazy manner.

"Who knew this would be so hard to let go," Kakashi said to no one in particular.

Sakura smiled meekly at his statement and closed her eyes to sigh deeply, "no, it's not…" she began calmly and tightened her embrace around the older Jounin a little, "it's just so hard to forget…" she trailed off when the signs of sleep took over her body from that moment on until the first strike of dawn.

Kakashi smiled sweetly at the now sleeping medic in his arms and allowed his also tired state to rest properly; dreaming peacefully with the Kunoichi in his arms and with a smile on his face.

Sakura woke up feeling refreshed and well rested, but there was something she knew she would regret out of everything that had happened the night prior. She grumbled a little and tried to stretch out an arm or two but they wouldn't budge. She heard the steady beat of a heart as she rose up and down from every breath.

Sakura realised she had fallen asleep in Kakashi's arms and her arms were wrapped firmly around the Copy Nin and wasn't quite able to move them out of place. With a small grunt, she lifted her bed-head and found the Copy Nin staring happily at her, as if she was the most interesting thing to observe.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," he managed to say with a wide grin plastered on his face.

The medic pouted sleepily and grunted yet again as she let her head fall back down, "what time is it…" she mumbled in the man's chest and sighed deeply.

A chuckled escaped the man's lips, "it's 10:30 am, why?" he made it seem so innocent, but Sakura wasn't about to smile and call it a morning. She shot bolt upright and glared in sheer horror at the other Jounin.

"Fuck!" she spat, and rolled off the Jounin whilst grumbling incoherent words even Kakashi couldn't understand.

He merely gave a laugh and sighed in bliss, "what's the hurry all of a sudden?" he mused with a grin and sat up on the bed and watched as Sakura raced around his room, cursing several times to herself, Kakashi and the world.

"We were supposed to have a briefing with Tsunade-shisou three hours ago; do you have any idea how much she's gonna hate us at this point?" she folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot on the ground continuously, giving Kakashi a scornful glare.

Kakashi's face fell, "oops," was all he managed to come up with within that minute and a half. Sakura was fuming with irritation, her frustration practically radiating off her body and almost contagious to all those who were near her.

"Oops? How can you say that at a time like this?" she quipped, eye twitching already.

Kakashi raised his hands up in defence and said, "relax Sakura-chan, I'm sure Tsunade-sama will accept the report even if we're late," Sakura calmed down after that, though something was still troubling her.

A sigh escaped the man's lips as he stood up, "go back to your apartment and get dressed; Tsunade-sama probably will hate us if we are any later," he gave Sakura a gentle push to the door and smiled, "I'll meet you there, I promise," with that, he shoved the medic not-so subtly out of his room.

Sakura huffed in annoyance but let it slide and hurried to her apartment to change into her normal clothes.

Fifteen minutes later, Sakura was running to the Hokage tower, still trying to fix her hair a bit along the way. At the main door, she found Kakashi already there, making the medic raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Okay…who are you and what happened to Kakashi?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Kakashi returned the grin and chuckled sheepishly, "I told you, I promised I'd meet you at the Hokage tower; so here I am, waiting for you. So what took you so long?" his grin merely widened at the sight of Sakura's pout and waltzed right past the man to enter the building, with him following suit.

On the way up, Kakashi thought it was time to ask the bold question of the morning, "what's bothering you Sakura?" he asked. Sakura sighed and answered, "what do you think Tsunade-shisou will say about our relationship? Will she let us be together?" she began to fidget with her fingers and stared at the floor while she walked.

"I don't know Sakura, but we'll just have to be patient and hope for the best," a smile reassured the medic as they finally approached the Hokage's office door.

"Have you any idea how late you are?" screeched the annoyed Hokage as she slammed her fist down on the table, making both Shinobi flinch at her thrashing against the poor defenceless desk.

Kakashi shrugged, "sorry, there was a group of orphaned children who wanted us to buy them some food and we just couldn't turn them down," Tsunade rolled her eyes and sighed, "save me the lame excuses for later, Hatake; so where's the report?" she eyeballed the two Jounins sceptically before Kakashi tossed her the scroll.

"Thank you," she deadpanned and set it aside along with the rest of her scrolls to read later.

The blonde woman glared at the couple while deep in thought. Sakura and Kakashi knew this was the moment of truth. The silver haired Jounin grabbed Sakura's hand for comfort, letting her know he was there for her.

"I'm guessing you won't be leaving without an answer," Tsunade trailed off, leaning back on her big chair.

Silence.

The hazel-eyes woman leaned forward again and rest her head on her hands, "I have come up with a decision about your relationship," a sigh was let out from the Hokage as she looked off to the side, trying to find the best and easiest way to describe this.

Sakura frowned and almost trembled in anticipation. Kakashi saw this and gave her hand a light squeeze to keep her calm. The silence was murderous and Kakashi too was feeling the need to shout something at Tsunade or say something like, 'GET ON WITH IT WOMAN!' but he was patient enough to wait for the Hokage's answer.

The busty blonde cleared her throat, making both Shinobi snap back into reality. Sweat-dropping already to hear the answer.

"I have decided that…" she trailed off for a bit, looking disappointed.

What was she going to say? The frown on Tsunade's face seemed to give Kakashi and Sakura a hint of what she might say, but they only hoped they would be wrong on their thoughts.

Time seemed to stand still for them. Tsunade was silent for almost every waking moment, and it was frustrating to see her most loyal ninja fall apart just waiting for a damn answer. She finally said it.

"I have decided to let you be together, even after the several yells at the Council about your relationship, but I gave them the birdy and told them to stuff it," a grin spread across her face.

Mouths agape, Kakashi and Sakura couldn't believe what they were hearing. Tsunade allowed it! By Kami this was the most happiest moment in Sakura's dear life, and all she wanted to do about it was…cry? This obviously didn't go unnoticed by the Copy Nin. He smiled genuinely at the Hokage before turning to face the now sobbing medic beside him.

She was crying in utter joy. She was so happy that all she could do was shed tears. Kakashi scooped her up in a hug and nuzzled his masked face into the side of Sakura's neck. All Sakura could do was cry and cry as she desperately hold onto her lover.

Tsunade gave the two love-birds a moment to pull themselves together and for Sakura to stop crying.

"Thank you, Tsunade-shisou," the medic said weakly as she wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath and smiled gratefully.

The hazel-eyed woman raised a hand and said, "don't worry about it; I noticed how happy the two of you were together and couldn't help but leave you be," her smile remained glued on her face as she saw the near physical reaction to her words.

"Now leave me alone now, I have a lot of work to do," the Hokage waved a hand and gestured at her struggling desk containing near mountains of papers and in fact a whole tree, as if to prove her point.

Kakashi chuckled in happiness, "don't worry Tsunade-sama, we'll leave now," he pulled the oh so happy medic out the door.

_Many, many weeks later…_

The happy couple strolled their way through Konoha holding hands, often receiving smiles and waves from both strangers and their friends. Now a days, Sakura and Kakashi were well known as a famous couple together. The Copy Nin was leading the way, avoiding the public eye as much as he could; not that he cared about people seeing him and his former student together anymore, it was more like trying to avoid crowds and the loud areas of the village, such as the market that was open at this hour.

Sakura was curious to know where they were going, but she wasn't paying all that much attention to their path and was too busy watching Kuro and Kitsune run around before them.

No longer were they considered as small and weak, but in fact that they grew so much that their size and weight was too great to hold on a shoulder such as Sakura's. They had gotten to the same size as Sasuke's fox Aku when they last saw him. Of course those were the dark days and Sakura still wished it never happened.

"Here we are…" Sakura was pulled out from her reverie after hearing Kakashi's deep voice.

Sakura's eyes widened when she realised the two of them were standing in front of a very familiar grave stone, one right in between the Third's and the Fourth's grave. She felt her stomach churn again like the last time she was here.

Kakashi remained completely silent and just stared at the stone before sighing deeply, "three months…" he reminded, though Sakura didn't want to know at all. She sighed audibly and leaned against the Copy Nin beside her, resting her head on the man's shoulder while keeping her gaze fixed on the headstone.

It was quiet there; no one to hear or a crowd to get away from. Just the two of them staring at the gravestones for as long as time could tell. The silver haired Jounin kneeled down while holding a white flower. When he got a white flower, Sakura did not know. She plainly watched Kakashi place the flower on top of the headstone and stood up straight.

Sakura watched Kakashi as he gazed at the gravestone a moment more before glancing at all the other headstones of other great Shinobi of Konoha. The First, Second and Third Hokage, all long gone yet their spirits remain alive and well. Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage. The Hokages all died trying to save Konoha and all of them succeeded but paid the price with their own lives. Jiraiya of the three Legendary Sannin, died trying to defeat Pein, leader of the Akatsuki, but alas he failed. Sarutobi Asuma, risked his life defending Konoha from Akatsuki, but he too failed. Then came Naruto himself, the one who was going to be the next Hokage.

"_Uzumaki Naruto, a great Shinobi of Konoha. Killed trying to protect Konoha and his friends, we shall remember him always_," was what was stated on the gravestone where Naruto lay six feet under.

Kuro and Kitsune waited patiently for their masters to finish their mourning and mulling over the loss of friends. Kakashi sighed with a small smile on his face, "we'll remember him no doubt…always," he said to no one in particular and gazed up at the clear blue sky.

Sakura smirked at what he said, "well no duh, he's not hard to remember; just think 'orange' and you'll remember him clearly," she giggled at her words, making Kakashi laugh as well.

"True," he mused as he turned to face the medic and pulled her close; his aloof manner still in play, "but where are my manners. Karin-chan, I never knew our love could be so perfect; I only wish for our love to last an eternity…" not only was his aloof manner in play, but so was his imagination.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "in 'loving' memory of Jiraiya-sama?" she wondered before too going into play mode and turned dramatic.

"But Junko, you know love is never perfect…" she placed the back of her hand to her forehead and tipped her head back in a theatrical pose.

Kakashi took this opportunity as an opening and wrapped an arm around the medic and pulled her close until Sakura was flushed against him. Kakashi slipped his mask down and locked lips with the medic in his arms, "that's true, but at least we should make the most of it," he said after pulling away to catch his breath.

With a sly grin, Kakashi gave Sakura another passionate kiss. The medic felt that making out in front of a memorial place was probably a little dishonouring. She broke the kiss by nuzzling into the crook of the other Jounin's neck and closed her eyes, taking in the scent of her lover.

Kakashi smiled sweetly, resting his arms around the pink haired Kunoichi and gazed at the gravestones one last time, '_memories last, but pain fades__…__indeed a wonder to behold__…_' he inwardly said to himself.

Sakura looked off to her right and watched as Kuro and Kitsune stared at Naruto's headstone, purring lightly and letting their tails cross paths and wrap around one another. Kitsune turned around to look at Sakura and smiled her foxy grin, reminding Sakura of what Naruto looked like.

The whiskers, the squinted eyes and childish look, made Sakura smile all the more. No longer was she cursed with the thought of ending her best friend's life, but instead she was blessed with the sweet memories of Naruto and all they went through together.

She smiled in Kakashi's arms, '_we shall remember him__…__always_,'

**THE END**

**Author's notes:** sobs this is the end at last :(. It probably ended a little corny like, but let me know how I did. Didn't expect the last fox to belong to Gaara did you? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jiraiya was killed by the Akatsuki leader in the manga, so that's why I didn't make the last fox belong to him, nor was he alive and talking in the story in general. Yes, of course I'll be writing more stories, but it'll take a while. I managed to work on this story since January I think; earlier even O.o. Anyways, I'd like to thank EVERYONE for reviewing and sticking with me for so many damn months, and I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter and...wait...strike that last! I hope you liked the _whole_ fanfic itself XD. I _loved_ writing this, and in due time I _will_ start me a new story that you guys can have a giggle over :P.

Love ya, and sayonara ;D

_Yanny88_


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